PITTSBURGH ¨C Willy Adames stole his 20th base to become the first Brewers shortstop ever to post a 30-20 season and rookie Joey Ortiz drove in three runs in a 7-2 win at PNC Park on Tuesday as Milwaukee reached the 90-win plateau for the second straight season.

That¡¯s only happened once before in franchise history, in 1978 and ¡®79, when Bambi¡¯s Bombers transformed the Brewers from expansion club into contender. But while both of those teams fell short of the postseason in the format of the day, this year¡¯s Brewers are already deep into planning for October.

That¡¯s because they are NL Central champions, and as of Tuesday they were a week away from opening a best-of-three NL Wild Card Series on Oct. 1 at American Family Field. That assignment is not a lock just yet; the Brewers enter Wednesday three games behind the NL-best Dodgers and moved within 2 1/2 games of the Phillies, with the top two division winners earning a bye to the NL Division Series. The Brewers would have to not just catch either of those teams but pass them in their five remaining games, since they lose both tiebreakers.

¡°We have to continue to play ball to win tonight,¡± Adames said. ¡°If we catch them, we catch them. If we don¡¯t, we just have to be ready for whoever we face. That¡¯s not what we have in mind today ¨C we¡¯re playing for today.¡±

Coaches and club officials, however, have to plan ahead for the possibility that the postseason is less than a week away. And here are some of the matters up for discussion:

1. Sort out the bullpen

Twenty-six-man rosters (with a maximum of 13 pitchers) must be set on the morning of Game 1 of each round in the postseason, and the final decisions are almost always in the bullpen. Last year, the Brewers went with 11 pitchers and 15 position players in the best-of-three NL Wild Card Series against Arizona, but this year¡¯s club is built much differently and the roster will reflect that.

The most notable pitcher in limbo is left-hander Bryan Hudson, who was so good in the first half (0.82 ERA, .129 opponents¡¯ average at the end of June) that the Brewers pushed for him to make the All-Star team, and whose velocity was so far down in the second half (after a stint on the injured list for a left oblique strain) that the Brewers demoted him to Triple-A Nashville to work on his mechanics.

Even though he hasn¡¯t been recalled to the Majors, Hudson is still very much in the mix for Milwaukee¡¯s postseason roster. One factor that helps explain why he hasn¡¯t been called up is that to do so, the Brewers would have to option someone else down, and that someone would have to stay down for at least 15 days by rule ¨C taking him out of consideration for the first round of the playoffs.

The Brewers know they need to see right-hander Nick Mears, who is ready to return from a stint on the injured list for a forearm strain, so that¡¯s one spot they already have to plan for. By keeping Hudson down for now, it keeps the pool of ¡®pen candidates as large as possible.

¡°The idea was to put him in an environment where he can do the training to get back to the velo that he was showing early in the year when he was so dominant,¡± Brewers assistant GM Matt Kleine said. ¡°It¡¯s not fair to ask a guy to work on things like that in a Major League game.¡±

Mears, meanwhile, touched 96 mph while throwing 20-plus pitches in a live batting practice session on Monday and said he felt ready to pitch in a Major League game. He could do so very soon.

¡°I think we need to see him in competitive games here a couple of times and see where he¡¯s at,¡± Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. ¡°He¡¯s definitely in the discussion.¡±

Also in the discussion is Bryse Wilson, though Wilson hasn¡¯t been built up to the point he could contribute as a multi-inning arm, which has been his most productive role in recent years.

We took a stab at predicting the roster in our Brewers postseason FAQ.

2. Sort out the starters, too

Freddy Peralta is the Brewers¡¯ longest-tenured healthy pitcher and a lock for Game 1.

But what happens after that?

Frankie Montas is the frontrunner to start a Game 2 (or pitch in bulk behind an opener) based on his experience and the way he¡¯d been pitching before a blowup game against the D-backs on Sunday. What, then, is the plan for Tobias Myers and Colin Rea, and, for that matter, Aaron Civale?

Rea has been ping-ponging between the rotation and bullpen in recent outings, including pitching 1 1/3 innings on Tuesday in a game started by Myers, who gutted through four innings in what could be his final regular-season start. On one hand, Myers delivered a 3.09 ERA in 134 innings this season as one of the team¡¯s most pleasant surprises. On the other hand, he¡¯s a rookie, and starting a win-or-else Game 3 would be a big ask.

¡°We¡¯re mapping all that out right now,¡± Murphy said, holding up a sheet of paper with a complicated grid of pitching contingencies.

3. Cover all contingencies

Hudson is among a group of players who reported to the Brewers¡¯ complex in Phoenix this week to stay sharp in case they are needed in October. Besides Hudson, the group includes pitching prospects Jacob Misiorowski (Brewers¡¯ No. 3 prospect, No. 62 overall per MLB Pipeline) and Logan Henderson (Brewers¡¯ No. 10 prospect), plus Elvis Peguero, who was on Milwaukee¡¯s postseason roster last year. The position players who reported include first baseman Tyler Black, infielder Vinny Capra and outfielder Brewer Hicklen, all of whom spent some time in the Majors this year.

¡°We don¡¯t want them to go home and then all of a sudden it¡¯s, ¡®Oh, wait, we need you,¡¯¡± Kleine said.

At the end of this week, while the Brewers wrap up their regular season against the Mets, a group of those players will join the team in Milwaukee. By the end of that weekend, Milwaukee¡¯s postseason assignment will be set.