Just a week and a half ago, the Milwaukee Brewers looked to this weekend's critical four-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals as a chance to build on their division lead.
Now it has become a fight for survival in the National League Central.
Riding an eight-game losing streak, the Brewers have lost 4 1/2 games to the Cardinals since Aug. 25. Instead of building on a division lead, Milwaukee has to overcome a three-game deficit.
The Brewers could regain a one-game advantage in the NL Central with a four-game sweep of the Cardinals, or they could be down seven games and all but out of the hunt for their second division title in four years come Sunday.
"You lose this many games it is hard to be up every day," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said of the team's morale. "We've got to have a break. We've got to have a great-pitched game, or we need somebody to go off and bash the ball. Something good needs to happen."
While this seems like a bad time to catch the Cardinals -- St. Louis has won five straight games -- it is a prime opportunity for the Brewers to get back on track against the team directly ahead of them in the standings.
There's no question Milwaukee needs to play better baseball after being embarrassed by the Giants and Cubs. The Brewers have been outscored 55-16 on their current eight-game losing streak, which is tied for the longest skid in the National League this season.
In order to get back in the division race or just hold onto the second wild-card spot, the Brewers need to turn things around in a hurry.
"We got our butts kicked," Roenicke said. "It doesn't matter who it is. If you play like this you aren't going to beat anybody."
Since the end of the 2011 regular season and including the 2011 National League Championship Series, St. Louis has won 20 of its last 28 games in Milwaukee.
The Brewers have a 5.80 ERA in those games, allowing the Cardinals to average 6.1 runs per game and bash 46 home runs.
In order for the trend to reverse, Milwaukee's starting pitchers are going to have to get back on track. Over the course of the eight-game losing streak, Brewers' starting pitchers have a 7.08 ERA -- and that includes six shutout innings thrown by Yovani Gallardo in San Diego.
The Brewers have also committed 10 errors during their skid and have scored just two runs per game.
"I don't understand it," Roenicke said. "We haven't pitched well, we haven't played good defense. (Wednesday) we swung the bat well, but we haven't been swinging the bat well, either.
"We're still not getting that big hit that we have to have to get back in games or move ahead of somebody. It's tough. We had some runners out there. We need somebody to hit a gapper or just come through with a big hit."
In the series opener Thursday, the Brewers will face Michael Wacha, who will be pitching in the big leagues for the first time since June 17. He's returning from a right shoulder stress reaction and will be on a pitch count of around 60.
Milwaukee will then see St. Louis' top three pitchers to close out the series, as John Lackey goes Friday, Lance Lynn on Saturday and ace Adam Wainwright pitches Sunday.
The Brewers are currently sticking with a six-man rotation for a turn, as Gallardo and Matt Garza won't pitch in the series. Wily Peralta will look to put a pair of rough starts behind him in the series opener, while Mike Fiers, Kyle Lohse and Jimmy Nelson follow.
Because the Brewers spent 150 consecutive days in first place, fans likely haven't glanced at the wild-card standings too often this season.
Milwaukee is clinging to a postseason berth at the moment, leading Atlanta by 1/2 game and Pittsburgh by two games for the second wild-card spot. Although Miami is 5 1/2 back, it really is a four-team race for two wild cards.
San Francisco is in front of the Brewers by 2 1/2 games for the top wild-card spot, which comes with the right to host the do-or-die wild-card game.
It would be a historic collapse if Milwaukee would fail to make the postseason, as only the 1969 Chicago Cubs, 2007 New York Mets, '08 Arizona Diamondbacks and '09 Detroit Tigers have spent 150 or more days in first place in a given season and not qualified for the playoffs.
The '69 Cubs didn't have the wild card to fall back on, while the other three teams played when just one wild card made the postseason.
Despite their longest losing streak since 2010, the Brewers still are in the mix for a postseason spot with 23 games to play. There's still time to turn things around, but they must do so in a hurry.
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