It wasn’t easy, but the Chicago Cubs have advanced to the National League Division Series, where they’ll take on the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Cubs knocked off the San Diego Padres in three games to secure their first playoff series win in eight seasons, and to win a winner-take-all game at Wrigley Field for the first time in team history.

All the while, the Brewers got to sit at home in Milwaukee, knowing that they will open their postseason on Saturday at American Family Field in the first game of the National League Division Series.

The only question that remains is when that series will get underway.

That’s because the answer depends on the winner of Thursday’s game between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, which will dictate when the Cubs vs. Brewers series will get underway.

If the Yankees can win for the second straight day and advance, the Cubs and Brewers will kick off Division Series Saturday, with first pitch set for 1:08 p.m. The game will air on TBS and truTV, and will stream on HBO Max.

If the Red Sox can bounce back from their Game 2 loss and eliminate their hated rivals, then the festivities will get underway much later. The start time for the Cubs and Brewers would then slide to 8:08 p.m. Central time, with the same channels airing the contest.

The two teams would then get a day off Sunday before resuming the series on Monday, with Game 2 also taking place in Milwaukee.

Game 3 of the series would then take place at Wrigley Field on Wednesday, October 8, with a Game 4 taking place the next day if necessary in the best-of-five series.

The Cubs and Brewers have never played in the postseason before, as the Brewers moved over to the National League in 1998. The Brewers had the best record in baseball during the regular season, but lost the season series to the Cubs, who won seven of 13 games against their bitter rivals.

The Brewers have reached the postseason seven times in the last eight seasons, but haven’t had a lot of success during that time, losing in the Wild Card series each of the last two years and in the National League Division Series in 2021. The last time the Brewers won a playoff round was in 2018, when they reached the National League Championship Series.

The Cubs meanwhile are coming off their first postseason series win since they captured the NLDS in 2017 over the Washington Nationals. The Cubs had never won a winner-take-all game at Wrigley prior to Thursday, having lost Game 7 of the 1945 World Series, Game 7 of the 2003 NLCS and the wild card game in 2018.

Starting pitchers for the first game of the series have not yet been named.