Colorado @ Milwaukee preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 5, 2018 ) Colorado 5, Milwaukee 4

The well-traveled Colorado Rockies play in their fourth city in five days when they open the best-of-five National League Division Series against the host Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday. The Rockies reached the NLDS by outlasting the Chicago Cubs in 13 innings in Tuesday's classic wild-card game while the red-hot Brewers are the NL Central champions.

Colorado finished the regular season at home Sunday and lost at the Los Angeles Dodgers in a division tiebreaker Monday before posting the epic 2-1 victory in Chicago on Tuesday and arriving in Milwaukee via bus at 4 a.m. on Wednesday morning. "I thought that we could do it," Rockies manager Bud Black said of reaching the postseason during his Wednesday press conference. "We could contend and match these teams. And sure enough, we have. It's a current expectation for sure. That's where we want to be." Milwaukee won its division championship in a tiebreaker Monday in Chicago and has won eight straight games and 23 of its last 30 games as it overcame a five-game September deficit. "We've been battling all year long," Brewers center fielder Lorenzo Cain said at Wednesday's press conference. "Think we were out it, back a few games in September and we found a way to win the division, so that just speaks for itself."

TV: 5:07 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rockies RH Antonio Senzatela (6-6, 4.38 ERA) vs. Brewers TBA

Senzatela finished strong by going 2-0 with a 1.62 ERA during his final three starts. The 23-year-old made 13 starts and 10 relief appearances this season and limited opposing hitters to a .220 average on the road compared to .316 at home. Sentazela's lone appearance against the Brewers came in his major league debut April 6, 2017 when he gave up two hits in five scoreless innings while receiving a no-decision.

Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell indicated at Wednesday's press conference that he will go with an "opener" and make Game 1 a bullpen game. Counsell declined to say who will start the game or would be used, saying the focus is on how "to share the 27 outs," before indicating he will use a traditional approach in Game 2. "We're going to use guys that haven't kind of been our starters this last couple weeks," said Counsell of the Game 1 plan, "so we're going to use a bunch of different guys and still deciding on exactly the order of that scenario."

WALK-OFFS

1. The Brewers went 5-2 against the Rockies in the regular season.

2. Colorado SS Trevor Story batted .333 with seven homers and 18 RBIs - including four four-RBI outings - against the Brewers this season.

3. Milwaukee star OF Christian Yelich batted .370 with 10 homers and 34 RBIs since the first of September to finish the regular season with a NL-best .326 average along with 36 homers and 110 RBIs.

PREDICTION: Brewers 7, Rockies 6