The Brewers completed a road sweep of the Reds on Thursday (MIL 5, CIN 3), and they've now won seven in a row. Milwaukee is 20-4 for the month of September, and most improbably they're 13-2 since star outfielder Christian Yelich succumbed to a fractured kneecap on Sept. 10. 

Yelich, of course, is the reigning NL MVP, and had been one of the top performers in all of baseball again in 2019. Theoretically, such a talent isn't easy to replace. 

Yet the Brewers since the loss of Yelich have clinched a second straight playoff berth, and they're now only one game behind the Cardinals in the NL Central. That's despite being 7 1/2 games out of first place as recently as Sept. 5. 

So what's gone right? First, it's been an accommodating stretch of schedule, at least recently. Since Sept. 9, 14 of the Brewers' 17 games have come against the Marlins, Padres, Pirates, and Reds. This isn't a criticism -- they play pretty much the same schedule as any other team -- but that this soft patch fell during a stretch when they were mostly without their best player is a notable. 

Second, the pitching has been exceptional. Through Sept. 10 -- the date Yelich was lost to injury -- the Brewers had allowed 4.90 runs per game. Since Yelich went down, the Brewers have allowed 2.8 runs per game. You win a lot of games when your pitching and defense combines to allow less than three runs per contest. In matters related, lockdown closer Josh Hader hasn't allowed a run in 15 of his last 16 appearances. Chase Anderson (he allowed one run in five innings against Cincy on Thursday), Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Lyles, and Zach Davies all have sub-3.00 ERAs since they lost Yelich. On offense, Ryan Braun has batted .308/.386/.718 over that same span. All of that has combined to put the Brewers where they are. 

There's still work to do, though. If paces hold, they'll be faced with beating Max Scherzer on the road in the NL Wild Card Game, and that's a recipe for a short playoff stay. The easy answer is to complete their hawk-down of the Cardinals and win the Central for a second straight season. They'll finish up with three on the road against the last-place Rockies. St. Louis, meantime, will host the Cubs for its final series. The Cubs are hardly in top form at the moment, but even an injured, playing-out-the-string Cubs roster is stronger than what the Brewers will face in Denver. Throw in the opportunity to play spoiler at the expense of their blood rivals, and perhaps the Cubs will play with a sense of purpose. 

Right now, the SportsLine Projection Model (@SportsLine on Twitter) gives the Brewers just a 1.8 percent chance of winning the World Series. If they can complete this unlikely comeback and win the Central, then those odds will bump up significantly heading into the playoffs. Lately, though, odds don't seem to mean much to the Brewers.