Throughout a season in which the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee

CHICAGO — Brewers spent the year as neighbors Carlos Carrasco Jersey , both geographically and in the National League Central standings, it will come down to one final meeting.After finishing the 162-game schedule with matching records (95-67) and in a first-place tie atop the Central, the division title and the ability to avoid playing in a one-game wild-card playoff game will be determined by a Monday meeting at Wrigley Field.By beating the St. Louis Cardinals 10-5 on Sunday, the Cubs will host the Brewers, who remained in the hunt for the Central title with an 11-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers. The winner will boast the National League’s record and host the NL Division Series on Thursday. The loser will play in a wild-card game on Tuesday.Article continues below ...The Cubs own a 11-8 advantage in the season series with the Brewers.“We’re going to have to come out and play our game,” Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo said in a postgame televised interview on NBC Sports Chicago. “I think we lay it on the line tomorrow.”Jose Quintana (13-11, 4.09 ERA) will start for the Cubs on Monday. He has been solid in September and has allowed two or fewer earned runs in four of his five starts this month. Quintana is coming off a no-decision against the Pittsburgh Pirates in which he surrendered two runs and four hits in five innings. He is 6-2 with a 1.60 ERA in 10 career starts against the Brewers.As familiar as the Cubs and Brewers are with one another, Monday’s game will hold extra significance. Although it’s not a win or go home scenario for either team, the winner will have home-field advantage in the divisional series and the loser will have to turn around and play Tuesday in the wild-card matchup.“They’re a great team, they’re well-coached, we’re a great team Cliff Pennington Jersey , we’re well-coached,” Rizzo said. “They want it, we want it. We’ve been battling back and forth for the last few years now. Wrigley Field, noon game, right? The fans will be behind us all day. I couldn’t think of a better place to be playing and how lucky we are to be playing (Monday).”The Brewers, who trailed the Cubs by five games earlier this month and by a full game before winning Saturday, will arrive at Wrigley Field full of confidence having won seven straight games and nine out of their last 10.Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell has not yet settled on a starting pitcher for Monday’s game but has the luxury of not having to use any of his top-end relievers in Sunday’s lopsided victory over the Tigers.Regardless of who takes the mound for the Brewers, Milwaukee knows if it can extend its win streak, the extra two days of rest and not having to play in a must-win situation on Tuesday will be well worth the effort.“We’re going in there with the mindset that it’s a must win,” Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich said after Sunday’s victory. “Obviously, we are still alive if we don’t win. … The mindset is that we’ve given ourselves two chances to get in. We need to be ready to go.“They are a great team. We’ve played each other tough all year. It’s only fitting that we have to do one more.” MESA Joey Votto Jersey , Ariz. (AP) — The spring training season started with a splash. Just not the kind fans hoped for.In the first major league exhibition game of the year, the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics were rained out Thursday. The Mariners roughed up Jerry Blevins and led 5-0 in the middle of the second inning when it was called — so in a game where the stats don’t count, they really won’t count.“We have our feet wet now, literally,” Athletics manager Bob Melvin said.The Cactus League opener was rained out after Major League Baseball had 54 regular-season postponements last year, the most since 1989.The Athletics and Mariners started early to give them time to prepare for their upcoming trip to Japan, where they’ll play regular-season games on March 20-21 at the Tokyo Dome.Dylan Moore, one of six players in the Mariners’ starting lineup who was new to the organization, hit a two-run double in the second off Blevins. Shed Long hit two doubles and Domingo Santana had a sacrifice fly.“Give them credit for their first at-bats of the spring in those type of conditions,” Melvin said. “They all had good at-bats.”It was an unseasonably cool 50 degrees at the start of the exhibition opener at Hohokam Stadium. Marco Gonzales pitched one inning for the Mariners before the rain came.“We had a pretty good idea it was going to rain, but I’m really glad we got Marco out there http://www.redsfanproshop.com/authentic-cliff-pennington-jersey ,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “That was the goal today. We were hoping to get two innings out of him, but the rain didn’t quite hold off long enough. But good start, a lot of good things.”Ichiro Suzuki, at 45 expected to play for the Mariners in the opening series in Japan, wasn’t in the lineup for Seattle. He was hit on the right foot by a pitch from Felix Hernandez during batting practice on Wednesday.The Mariners and A’s are set to try again Friday in Peoria, though the weather forecast isn’t much better.The Grapefruit League season is scheduled to begin earlier in the day when Philadelphia plays Tampa Bay in Port Charlotte, Florida.NOTES: The 20-second pitch clock that will be tried out across in spring training was not used in the Mariners-A’s game.