With 10 games remaining, Brewers open four-game series against the Cubs at Miller Park

With only 10 games remaining in their season and trailing the first-place Cubs by 3 1/2 games in the NL Central, the Brewers open a four-game series against Chicago on Thursday evening at Miller Park.

To say the least, the series is huge for the Brewers, who need to cut that deficit before Chicago leaves town to have any chance at the division title.

The Brewers also are keeping an eye on Colorado in the wild-card race. The Rockies currently lead the Brewers by one game for the second berth behind Arizona.

The Brewers are entering the series coming off a tough 6-4 walk-off loss to the Pirates on Wednesday night in Pittsburgh. They also heavily used their bullpen, including late-inning relievers Anthony Swarzak and Corey Knebel in all three games, putting them in a tough spot against the Cubs should they have a late lead.

All of that puts extra pressure on starter Zach Davies to go deep into the game. Davies is 17-9 with a 3.89 ERA, and the last time he faced the Cubs, he pitched seven innings of one-run ball to help the Brewers sweep a three-game series at Wrigley Field.