By ANDREW WAGNER
ST. LOUIS -- It seems like once again, Mark Attanasio is going to get stuck with a bill for carpet cleaning.
With their magic number to clinch the NL Central Division title down to four, the Brewers open a six-game road trip tonight in St. Louis where they'll play a weekend series against the Cardinals before heading west to take on the Padres in San Diego.
Any combination of four Brewers wins and Cubs losses clinches the title for a third consecutive season and for the fourth time in the last five years.
It's the second meeting in a week between the two longtime rivals. The Brewers took two of three from the Cardinals last weekend at American Family Field.
Here's how the teams match up heading into their weekend series at Busch Stadium:
Brewers-Cardinals By the Numbers
Runs scored : Brewers -- 785 (1st, NL), Cardinals -- 653 (11th)
Home runs: Brewers -- 162 (7th), Cardinals --143 (13th)
Strikeouts: Brewers -- 1,187 (13th), Cardinals -- 1,240 (10th)
Batting average: Brewers -- .261 (1st), Cardinals -- .244 (11th)
On-base percentage: Brewers -- .334 (1st), Cardinals -- .314 (11th)
Slugging percentage: Brewers -- .409 (6th), Cardinals -- .378 (14th)
OPS: Brewers -- .743 (6th), Cardinals -- .692 (12th)
ERA: Brewers -- 3.60 (1st), Cardinals -- 4.29 (10th)
Bullpen ERA: Brewers -- 3.70 (3rd), Cardinals -- 3.71 (4th)
Strikeouts: -Brewers 1,361 (3rd), Cardinals 1,135 (14th)
Brewers-Cardinals History
Season Series: Brewers lead, 6-4 (5-2 home, 1-2 road)
All-time series: Cardinals lead, 248-203 (120-104 STL, 128-99 MIL)
April 25 -- Cardinals 3, Brewers 2
April 26 -- Cardinals 6, Brewers 5
April 27 -- Brewers 7, Cardinals 1
June 12 -- Brewers 6, Cardinals 0
June 13 -- Brewers 3, Cardinals 2
June 14 -- Cardinals 8, Brewers 5
June 15 -- Brewers 3, Cardinals 2
Sept. 12 -- Brewers 8, Cardinals 2
Sept. 13 -- Brewers 9, Cardinals 8
Sept. 14 -- Cardinals 3, Brewers 2
Upcoming Probable Pitchers
Friday -- Misiorowski vs. Gray
Saturday -- RHP Chad Patrick (3-8, 3.64) vs. Miles Mikolas (8-10, 4.80)
Sunday -- TBA vs. Matthew Liberatore (7-12, 4.30)
Scoreboard watching
They enter play Friday night three games up on the Phillies for the first seed and are five games ahead of the American League's best team, the Toronto Blue Jays.
Along with trying to clinch the division title, the Brewers are still looking to lock down the top seed in National League playoff field -- as well as the top seed overall.
Milwaukee holds the tiebreaker over both teams by virtue of winning the season series.
Here's the weekend schedule for the rest of NL field:
(2) Phillies at Diamondbacks
(3) Dodgers vs. Giants
(4) Cubs at Reds
(5) Padres at White Sox
(6) Mets vs. Nationals
The Diamondbacks and Reds go into the weekend two games back of the Mets for the final NL Wild Card spot while the Giants sit just three games back.