Dodgers will face Brewers in the wild card round

It took until the final day of the regular season, but the Dodgers finally know who they will play in the opening round of the 2020 MLB postseason. The Milwaukee Brewers clinched the No. 8 seed in the National League on Sunday, and will come to Los Angeles for the wild card round beginning Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.

Milwaukee actually lost on Sunday to finish at 29-31, the same record as the Giants. But the Brewers won the tiebreaker because their divisional record (19-21) is better than San Francisco (18-22).

The wild card round begins Wednesday at Dodger Stadium, with Game 1 at 7 p.m. PT. The exact start times for the final two games haven’t yet been announced. Every game of the best-of-3 series will be played at Dodger Stadium, with the Dodgers as the home team.

Earlier Sunday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Walker Buehler would start Game 1 for the Dodgers on Wednesday, with Clayton Kershaw starting Game 2 on Thursday.

Pitching has been the Brewers’ greatest strength this season, third in the majors in strikeout rate with a 110 ERA+, and sixth in the National League in runs allowed. But Corbin Burnes, who posted a 2.11 ERA with 88 strikeouts in 59⅔ innings this season, is currently on the injured list with an oblique strain and isn’t expected to pitch for Milwaukee in the wild card round. Per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com:

Asked whether Burnes could still pitch for the Brewers should the team manage to make a deep October run, Counsell said: “We don’t know. We know we’re 12 hours into this. We know it’s severe enough that we would not expect him for the first round at all. Second round’s probably doubtful. But we’ll kind of see as we go here.”

This is the second time the Dodgers will face the Brewers in a postseason series, having beaten Milwaukee in seven games in the 2018 NLCS.