Remaining schedule has a big effect on their chances. The path is wide open IF they keep winning. The Dodgers and Cardinals play a 4-game series next weekend, so in the ideal case of a 2-2 split, they have a chance to make up more ground. After that, LA has 9 games on the road also--at Washington, Cincinnati, and San Diego. St. Louis has the upcoming west coast trip, but unfortunately they play 9 straight against Houston and Cubs after that (although at least 6/9 of those games are on the road). They definitely have the easiest schedule. So it is crucial to get another game back tomorrow if they want any chance. The Pirates are letting a golden opportunity get away this weekend, but they still have 12 more against the Mets/Cubs/Astros also so they can't be neglected even if they are treading water. With three teams ahead of them, the Brewers can't count on getting much help, you have to figure at least one of those teams is going to go a few games over .500 the rest of the way.The Brewers can probably afford to lose only about 5 more games the rest of the way, 18-5 to finish 87-75 should do it for sure, with a little luck maybe they could get into a tiebreaker at 86 or 85. They are 15-5 in their last 20, so they just have to repeat what they have been doing. If one of the teams ahead of them gets hot, that's it. Things would get more complicated if the Braves choke and fall back into the pack. They are 20 over .500 and 5 1/2 up on St. Louis, but a sweep by the Brewers combined with some help could get them back closer to everyone else. Since this is the optimism thread, I won't comment on what I think will happen. But for what it's worth, past years have shown that teams playing from behind with nothing to lose can put lots of pressure on the teams above them in the standings. So their odds might be higher than statistical analysis would suggest.