Cubs-Brewers Series Preview: If Cubs Can Sweep, They Win N.L. Central

The first-place Cubs (90-58) have an eight-game lead on the second place Brewers (83-67) right now, with a huge three-game series starting tonight at Wrigley Field.

The first game features two of the N.L.'s best pitchers, with the Brewers' CC Sabathia (9-0, 1.59 era with the brewers) against possible N.L. Cy Young Candidate Ryan Dempster (15-6, 3.02) of the Cubs.

On Wednesday, the Brewers send Ben Sheets (13-8, 2.97) against the Cubs' Jason Marquis (10-8, 4.36).

Then on Thursday, the Brewers send Manny Parra (10-8, 4.28) against Rich Harden (5-1, 1.65 since joining the Cubs from the A's).

The Cubs are coming into the series with the Brewers after beating the Astros in two straight in Milwaukee. Those two games were moved to "Wrigley North," as it is called, because of the damages done from Hurricane Ike.

The Cubs had two strong pitching performances from Carlos Zambrano, who threw the first Cubs No-Hitter since Milt Pappas did it in 1972, and Ted Lilly himself pitched a one-hitter against the Astros on Monday afternoon.

The Brewers are coming into the series after getting swept by the Phillies in four straight over the weekend and have also lost 11 of 14 this month so far. The Phillies moved into a share of the lead in the wild card with the sweep of the Brewers.

The Brewers then decided, with the way the team was playing lately, that they needed to fire Manager Ned Yost on Monday afternoon, replacing him with third-base coach Dale Svuem for the remainder of the season.

If the Cubs were able to sweep the Brewers this week at Wrigley, they then can clinch their second-straight N.L. Central Division title. The Cubs' magic number right now is six, going into Tuesday night's action.

This is going to be some great action from Wrigley between the Cubs and the Brewers.

The Brewers' leaders

OF Ryan Braun .290-35-97

1B Prince Fielder .265-30-87

SS J.J. Hardy .278-24-70

OF Corey Hart .276-20-83

Pitchers

CC Sabathia 9-0, 1.59 ERA and 102 K's

Ben Sheets 13-8, 2.97 ERA and 155 K's

Manny Parra 10-8, 4.28 ERA and 141 K's

Salomon Torres 6-5, 2.68 ERA with 27 saves

The Cubs' Leaders

1B Derrek Lee .294-19-86

OF Alfonso Soriano .289-28-71-19

 C Geovany Soto .288-22-83

2B Mark DeRosa .282-20-83

3B Aramis Ramirez .280-24-105

Pitchers

Ryan Dempster 15-6, 3.02 ERA and 173 K's

Carlos Zambrano 14-5, 3.41 ERA and 127 K's

Ted Lilly 15-9, 4.13 ERA and 175 K's

Rich Harden 5-1, 1.65 ERA and 78 K's

Kerry Wood 4-4, 3.45 ERA with 30 saves