As the calendar flips to October, the Milwaukee Brewers find themselves at the center of Major League Baseball’s postseason drama, prepping at American Family Field for a National League Division Series (NLDS) opener that’s shrouded in suspense. With their opponent still undetermined and game times hinging on results from the American League, the top-seeded Brewers are bracing for one of the most unpredictable and closely watched playoff launches in recent franchise history.
The NLDS matchups are almost set, but there’s one glaring question left: Who will the Brewers face come Saturday, October 4, 2025? The answer will be decided by the outcome of the Wild Card series between the Chicago Cubs and the San Diego Padres. The Cubs took game one of their Wild Card series against the Padres on Tuesday afternoon, giving them a golden chance to clinch a spot in the NLDS with a win in game two. Should the Cubs prevail, it would set up the first-ever postseason series between the Brewers and their NL Central rivals—a tantalizing prospect for fans on both sides of the I-94 rivalry.
But that’s not the only thing up in the air. According to MLB.com’s Brewers beat reporter Adam McCalvy, the start time for the Brewers' NLDS Game 1 is also on hold, pending the outcome of the ongoing American League Wild Card showdown between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. McCalvy reported, “We have our first information about NLDS game times from MLB — at least for Game 1.” If the Yankees advance, Milwaukee’s playoff opener will be a matinee at 1:08 p.m. CT. If the Red Sox move on, it’s a primetime 8:08 p.m. CT start. For Brewers fans, it’s another twist in the postseason scheduling saga, with the team’s fate intertwined with games happening hundreds of miles away.
Brewers faithful now have a vested interest in the AL Wild Card, where Boston struck first with a 3-1 win over New York in game one at Yankee Stadium. That pitching duel featured two elite lefties—Garrett Crochet and Max Fried—setting the tone for a tense series. Since the Wild Card format was introduced in 2022, no team has lost game one and come back to win the series, a streak that gives the Red Sox a statistical edge heading into game two. If that trend holds, Milwaukee’s postseason opener will be under the lights this Saturday.
While the Brew Crew waits, the rest of the Division Series bracket is coming into focus. The defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Cincinnati Reds in their Wild Card series, outscoring them 18-9 over two games and clinching their 13th straight NLDS appearance. The Dodgers will now face the Philadelphia Phillies, the NL’s No. 2 seed, in a best-of-five series. The top two seeds in both leagues—Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners in the AL, Brewers and Phillies in the NL—earned byes and will host the first two games of their respective Division Series.
This year’s postseason follows a bracket format with no reseeding, so the matchups are locked in as soon as the Wild Card dust settles. The NLDS slate will feature the Brewers against either the Cubs or Padres, with the higher seed (Milwaukee) hosting Games 1, 2, and, if necessary, Game 5. All four Division Series kick off on Saturday, October 4, with NLDS games airing on TBS and available for streaming on TBS.com, the TBS app, and HBO Max. For ALDS action, fans can tune in to Fox and FS1 or stream via FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports app.
Behind the scenes, the Brewers are working hard to stay sharp as they await their opponent. But as national baseball experts weigh in, there’s no consensus on how deep Milwaukee’s postseason run will go. ESPN polled 25 of its baseball experts, with 13 predicting the Brewers would edge the Padres in a potential NLDS matchup, 11 siding with San Diego, and one picking the Cubs. Only two ESPN experts picked the Brewers to win the World Series, while the Phillies emerged as the overwhelming favorite with 12 votes.
The Athletic’s panel of more than 20 writers was even more skeptical, giving the Brewers a 0% chance to win the World Series and just a 12% chance to win the NLCS—tied with the Dodgers. Still, a couple of writers pointed to Milwaukee’s resilience and the stellar second-half performance of ace Freddy Peralta. David O’Brien remarked, “Brewers are long overdue to make a deep run, and I just like how fundamentally sound they are and the vibe they have under manager Pat Murphy. Plus, Freddy Peralta is 9-2 with a 2.47 ERA in 16 starts since the beginning of July, including a 1.76 ERA in his past 10.”
Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller sees a likely Brewers-Cubs NLDS, predicting Milwaukee will dispatch Chicago in four games but ultimately fall to the Phillies in the NLCS. “Hard to bet against Milwaukee, though, especially when it will have Freddy Peralta and the inexplicably invincible Quinn Priester on the mound at home for the first two games,” Miller wrote. Yet, like most national pundits, Miller doesn’t see the Brewers getting past the Phillies, who are widely considered the team to beat in the National League.
CBS Sports’ expert panel is similarly divided. Three writers believe the Brewers will reach the NLCS but fall to the Phillies or Dodgers, while two others think the Cubs will pull off an upset in the NLDS before bowing out to Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Sports Illustrated’s group is the most pessimistic, with four out of five picking the Padres to knock out Milwaukee in the opening round. Only one SI writer picked the Brewers to win the NLDS, but even then, predicted a loss to the Dodgers in the next round.
Concerns for the Brewers are not unfounded. The team stumbled to a 12-12 mark in September, and as SI’s Ryan Phillips noted, “The Brewers stumbled a bit down the stretch, going 12–12 in September, and now they're missing two of their top four starting pitchers. Their offense has cooled a bit, too, as their 99 wRC+ in September shows.” These late-season challenges have fueled doubts about Milwaukee’s staying power in a playoff field stacked with heavyweights like the Phillies and Dodgers.
Still, history has a way of turning expert predictions on their head, especially in October. The Brewers have been underestimated before, only to defy expectations with strong fundamentals and timely performances. As one ESPN pundit quipped, “Do I believe in this pick? No. But I didn’t believe in the Brewers in spring training either, and they went out and won more games than anyone. I didn’t believe in the Brewers at the All-Star break, and guess what: I was wrong again.”
With the NLDS just days away, Milwaukee’s path is still clouded by uncertainty—opponent, start time, and national expectations all hanging in the balance. But as the city and its fans gear up for another October run, one thing’s for sure: all eyes will be on American Family Field this Saturday, when the Brewers finally kick off their postseason quest, ready or not.
