Milwaukee Brewers are getting hot at the right time. Stop me if you’ve heard that before. Under Craig Counsell, Milwaukee had an innate ability to find their hot streak at the end of the year. It doesn’t matter if it’s a shortened season or a full season. Brewers are back to .500 for the first time since mid-August. They’ve won four straight games and are trying to break down the door for the playoffs. Milwaukee controls their own destiny with five games against St. Louis and three versus Cincinnati. Those will decide their season. But Milwaukee gave themselves a chance. Sweeping the Royals over the weekend definitely helped things as Milwaukee tries to capture September magic again.

Player of the Game: Dan Vogelbach – My podcast partner Mitch gave him the nickname, ‘Danny Doublecheese.’ I have yet to see a Big J steal it as their own. But Doublecheese is the man. He has been a sparkplug in the Brewers clubhouse. Vogelbach socked two home runs last night. One to open up the scoring for the Brewers. The other one to give Milwaukee quite the cushion. After hitting under .100 with Toronto and Seattle, Vogelbach is hitting .428 and now found his power stroke. Look out.

Honorable Mention: Josh Lindblom – Hand up, I was pretty hard on Josh Lindblom to start the year. Brewers did sign him to a three-year deal, and the hope was he would be a third or fourth reliable starter for the Crew. It didn’t happen that way. Despite striking out everyone in sight, Lindblom gave up a lot of runs. But since his bullpen demotion, Lindbloom turned it around. He was great on Sunday allowing only one run on three hits in five innings.

One thing to know: This playoff race will be absurd – Here’s what the Brewers are potentially fighting for. The second spot in the NL Central or an NL Wild Card berth. It could mean playing anyone from the Dodgers, Cubs, or Braves in the first round. There are five teams in the mix, and maybe a sixth with Miami. Don’t sleep on the Marlins collapsing late playing Atlanta and the New York Yankees this week. The 5 through 8 of the NL isn’t anywhere close to being decided. Besides the Brewers, here’s what to watch tonight.

Phillies at Nationals
Marlins at Braves
Cardinals at Royals
Rockies at Giants

Next up: Milwaukee gets set for their first trip to Cincinnati with everything on the line. Brandon Woodruff gets the ball for the Brewers. I cannot think of a better player to set the tone for Milwaukee this week. Luis Castillo goes for Cincinnati in the biggest start of his life. Castillo is a great home pitcher, but these are different circumstances.

Charlie.