MILWAUKEE — The Cubs are in the NL Division Series, awaiting a much-anticipated showdown with the Milwaukee Brewers.

The opponent may have changed, but the Cubs’ pitching plans haven’t.

They plan to start veteran left-hander Matthew Boyd in Game 1 after he filled the same role in the NL Wild Card Series as well, the team announced Friday evening.

Boyd drew the start in Game 1 against the San Diego Padres Tuesday and tossed 4.1 strong innings. He allowed just one run on four hits and a walk before giving way to the Cubs bullpen.

His performance helped set the tone for the Cubs in the best-of-three series and the team is hoping he can do so again in the best-of-five NLDS.

Since Boyd last threw on Tuesday, this start Saturday would come on only three days rest.

[NL Division Series watch guide: Cubs vs. Brewers game dates, times, TV]

But he tossed just 58 pitches in the wild-card outing and he was warming in the bullpen during the ninth inning of Thursday’s decisive win at Wrigley Field.

The 34-year-old southpaw was the Cubs’ lone consistent presence in the rotation all season, leading the team in starts (31), innings (179.2), wins (14) and strikeouts (154).

It has been the best season of Boyd’s 11-year MLB career, as he posted a 3.21 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 2.6 WAR.

The Cubs had multiple options at their disposal for the Game 1 start after using a bunch of arms to get through the Padres in the wild-card series.

Javier Assad was left off the wild-card roster after starting Sunday’s regular season finale, but he figures to have a spot on the NLDS roster. In a three-game series, the Cubs opted for an extra position player and only carried 12 pitchers.

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Now that the NLDS is a best-of-five series, the Cubs will almost assuredly go back to an even split of 13 position players and 13 pitchers.

Assad could join the rotation or be available out of the bullpen. The Cubs also could have started veteran right-hander Colin Rea, who appeared only once in the wild-card series — 15 pitches out of the bullpen Wednesday.

“We’re going into this with a couple plans,” manager Craig Counsell said during Friday’s workout before the team announced a Game 1 starter. “We’re going to let everybody throw today and then make a decision after that. But we’ve definitely got what we’d prefer to do.”

The Cubs have the advantage of multiple off-days throughout the series to line up their pitching.

The Cubs and Brewers will play Game 1 on Saturday, then are off on Sunday. Game 2 will be Monday before another off-day on Tuesday. The only back-to-back days with games are Wednesday and Thursday (and even Thursday isn’t guaranteed if one team sweeps) before yet another break on Friday and then a potential Game 5 on Saturday.

That means that the Cubs could conceivably throw the same starter in Game 1 Saturday and Game 4 Thursday on regular rest. And the Game 2 starter could also pitch Game 5 on regular rest.

[MORE: Jameson Taillon sets tone in Cubs’ NL Wild Card Series-clinching win]

So in reality, the Cubs only truly need a three-man rotation for this series. It will likely be Boyd followed by Shota Imanaga and Jameson Taillon, but the Cubs also used an opener before Imanaga in the wild-card series, so anything is on the table at this point.

“Three games and five games, man, in terms of win three or win two — that’s not a big difference,” Counsell said. “So it means the gas pedal is down immediately for everybody. I don’t think that’s going to change at all.”