The Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds are playing live on the MLB schedule on Wednesday and the matchup from Miller Park is a big NL Central showdown and it starts up at 2:10 pm ET on MLB Network and comes after Jonathan Lucroy walked off yesterday and this matchup is crucial for both teams and especially Cincy, as they are fading from contention in the second half.

The pitching matchup for the game has Kyle Lohse and Mike Leake matching up and the Reds really need to get going, as they got swept by the Yankees and now are down against the Brewers. Milwaukee had been slumping and they lost some ground in the NL Central and now they have the chance to get some of that back against the Reds. This season Cincy has been pitching great, but their offense has been a total mess and if they want to stay in the race, the team needs to start winning again.

The Brewers hit a major slump around the All Star break and that allowed the Cardinals to catch up along with the Pirates and they had a bad stretch of losing 13 of 16 games and now they have won the first two games of this series. The team now has a lead once again in the NL central and they got a great win from Lucroy and his HR and now the Brewers have the chance to keep things up and now Lohse is on the mound and he is 10-4 on the season and that is one reason why the team is in playoff position.

The Brewers got some momentum off the last two games and they will play a four game set with the NY Mets and they will face off against Dillon Gee with Matt Garza. The team got the win 4-3 at the end against the Reds and they come in hitting the ball well, as they are ranked in the top 10 in runs and they are 11^th in batting average and sixth in slugging percentage. The team is also third in quality starts and 16^th in Era and the team is also 10^th in WHIP this season.

The NL is going to be a dog fight for that wild card and getting into the playoffs is no guarantee and that is why the Brewers want to stay in the mix in the division. The Cardinals, Pirates and Reds all are in the mix from this division and the Braves and Nationals are also right there and battling. The NL west loser between the Giants and the Dodgers also will be there to battle.

Check here for the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds live coverage from MLB.