After a long, hard-fought season, the Milwaukee Brewers are now divisional champs. While it did not come after a Milwaukee win, the Brewers still clinched the NL Central on Tuesday following the Chicago Cubs' loss to the Atlanta Braves. This means that with five games left in the season, the Brewers are locked in as the #3 seed in the National League. As the third seed, Milwaukee will host all three games in its NL Wild Card series.

Should they take care of business at American Family Field, the club will likely have a five-game Divisional Round series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers are four games back of the top-seed Atlanta Braves with just a few games left, all but ensuring LA ends the season as the two-seed.

With those two scenarios essentially ensured, the only unknown left in play is Milwaukee's opponent for the Wild Card Round. The Arizona Diamondbacks, Miami Marlins, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and San Diego Padres are all in hot pursuit of the final two Wild Card spots. The Diamondbacks currently hold the second Wild Card place with a two-game advantage over the Marlins in Cubs. This would put Arizona on the opposite side of the bracket from the Brewers. The team in the final Wild Card spot will face the Brewers.

As of the games played on September 27, the Marlins have the advantage over the Cubs as the last Wild Card team. The two teams have identical records, but Miami holds the tie-breaker over Chicago thanks to its 4-2 record against the Cubs this year. The Reds are 1.5 games back of the Marlins while the Padres are behind by 3.5 games and would require a miracle to reach the postseason.

With so many postseason scenarios still in play, what would be the ideal playoff matchup for the Milwaukee Brewers?

Earn #3 seed, face Reds in NL Wild Card

It seems unlikely that the Cincinnati Reds — the team atop the NL Central at the All-Star break — would even be in the playoff hunt after posting a dismal 31-37 record since then. But such is the mediocrity of the NL Wild Card contenders this year. Since the All-Star break, the Cubs are the only team with a record better than two games above .500, and even then, Chicago is 11-14 in September and on the verge of playing itself out of the postseason.

In truth, the Brewers will be confident going up against any of these Wild Card teams, but none more so than the Reds. Milwaukee has a 10-3 record against Cincinnati this year — the best record of any opponent the team faced. During a 15-game stretch in July, the Brewers took seven of nine games from their divisional rivals, including three straight shutouts at one point, lifting Milwaukee from 2.0 games back in the NL Central to up 1.5 games. The Brew Crew used their veteran pitching staff to shut down the young, streaky Cincy hitters, while their bats did just enough to squeak out wins, earning saves in six of the seven victories. The Reds would briefly claw their way back into first a few days later, but the Brewers have stood atop the division ever since.

Milwaukee will have a noticeable advantage in starting rotation depth which would play out even over the course of a short three-game series against the inexperienced Cincinnati Reds.