Twenty-nine. That is the number of years Milwaukee Brewers fans have had to wait to watch their team win a playoff series.

In fact, 29 years ago was when the Brewers made their first franchise World Series appearance since moving to Miwaukee, but lost in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Yes, the Cardinals. At that time the Brewers were in the American League, and oh have things changed. I can promise you that if the Brewers win this series, victory would be sweeter. Being in the same division for many years now, the Brewers-Cardinals rivalry has intensified this season.

Whether it was the late push by the Cardinals to get into the playoffs, the smack talking between the two teams, this series will be something interesting.

In fact, some are saying it’s comparable to the Packers-Bears matchup a season ago. Both teams split in the regular season (as did the Brewers/Cardinals), but the Packers defeated the Bears in the NFC Championship to head to the Super Bowl..and we all know what happened after that.

A series win for the Brewers would be sweet for many reasons.

First of all, since moving to the National League in 1998, the Brewers have had 10 losing seasons. Although they made the playoffs in 2008, they fell to the Phillies in the Division Series. Now that they’ve made it to the Championship series, they have a chance to head to the World Series.

The Brewers and Cardinals split nine games each in the regular season, but this Cardinals team isn’t the same team that the Brewers faced in the regular season.

In late August, the Cardinals were done. They were 10.5 games back from the Wild Card to the Atlanta Braves, and they had a one percent chance to make the playoffs.

Since August 25th, where the Cardinals were down 10.5 games, they went 22-9 and won the Wild Card. Heading into the playoffs, they faced the team to beat, arguably the team with the best pitching staff ever, the Philedalhpia Phillies.

If the Brewers want to win the series, they must do things that they have relied on all year. They must win the rest of their home games. The Brewers have had the best home record in the MLB, but have split in this series thus far. They now head to Busch Stadium for the next three games.

The Brewers need to win at least one game there otherwise they are most likely out. If they can force a game six or seven at Miller Park, the Brewers have a good chance.

They must also rely on pitching. The Brewers, who have had marvelous pitching all season with a strong, four-man starting rotation, have only counted on Yovanni Gallardo and Zack Greinke this postseason. Shaun Marcum and Randy Wolf, who struggled late into the regular season, have fell apart and seem to be cooked. Who knows if Manager Ron Roenicke will stick with Marcum if the Brewers force a game six.

Personally, tonight’s game will be the biggest of them all. It will be a pitching duel with Galladro on the mound, who has pitched lights out in his last five starts, against former Cy Young award winner Chris Carpenter, who pitched a three-hit shutout to give the ’Cards a playoff series win over the Phillies.

If the Brewers can win with Gallardo on the mound, it will give the Crew a sigh of relief heading into game four, with Randy Wolf pitching.

Although I believe the Brewers have had a better regular season team than the Cardinals, I think the scenarios are different this time around. It’s hard to predict who will win the series. We all know one thing, that it will be a close series that will involve lots of emotions.