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The Milwaukee Brewers took care of business on Sunday afternoon, summarily dispatching the Detroit Tigers by a score of 11-0 at Miller Park.
The reward for their efforts?
A 163rd game at Wrigley Field for all the marbles in the National League Central.
With the Chicago Cubs beating the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-5, a short time after Jordan Lyles finished mopping up against the Tigers, the Brewers began preparing for their unexpected trip south on I-94 for a 1:05 p.m. ET matchup Monday.
The winner of the tiebreaker game will win the Central Division crown and advance to the NL Division Series, which begins Thursday. The loser will host the NL wild-card game on Tuesday against either the Dodgers or Rockies, who also are playing a tiebreaker for the NL West title Monday.
More:Under pressure: Cubs, Brewers meet again Monday with NL Central title on line
More:Game 163! Historic day on tap as Dodgers-Rockies, Cubs-Brewers set for NL tiebreakers Monday
Simply forcing Game 163 was a testament to how well Milwaukee played over the final month of the regular season. The Brewers were trailing the Cubs by five games before Christian Yelich’s walk-off fielder’s choice on Sept. 3 started their charge.
They finished September with a 19-7 record.
After having to sweat out a pair of 6-5 nailbiters against the Tigers on Friday and Saturday, the Brewers finally were able to breathe easy in the latter innings of Sunday's game after a six-run seventh put the game out of reach.
They jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first on RBI singles by Jesús Aguilar and Mike Moustakas and then added single runs in the fourth and sixth on an Aguilar homer and a Manny Piña sacrifice fly, respectively.
But with Detroit's scrappy offense having fought back each of the previous two nights, Milwaukee certainly wasn't able to breathe easy.
Veteran Gio Gonzalez started and pitched well despite the Tigers making some loud contact early. He ended up providing five shutout innings, with Junior Guerra providing two more behind him on what turned out to be a crucial rest day for the Brewers' big guns in the bullpen.
The Brewers broke the game open in the seventh, batting around for the 23rd time on the season and scoring six times to turn the game into a laugher.
Ryan Braun's two-RBI double started the rally, Niko Goodrum's wild throw home allowed two more runs to score after that and then a two-RBI single by Orlando Arcia finished the scoring for the inning.
Travis Shaw capped the scoring with a solo homer in the eighth.
There was a memorable moment when, between at-bats in the top of the eighth, manager Craig Counsell lifted Yelich from the game. Showered by chants of "MVP! MVP! MVP!" Yelich trotted off the field and tipped his cap to the crowd shortly before entering the dugout.
It was a rare quiet game for Yelich on the field, as he walked twice and struck out twice.
With the NL batting title already assured, he'll be able to utilize Game 163 to try and get himself back into the race for the triple crown as Colorado's Nolan Arenado homered twice to take over the lead in that category with 37 and also drove in three runs to tie Yelich for second with 109.
Arenado's teammate, Trevor Story, also homered to tie Yelich and the Cardinals' Matt Carpenter for second in the NL with 36.
Milwaukee's 95 victories are tied for second-most in franchise history with the 1979 and '82 teams. The Brewers won 96 games in 2011.
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