MILWAUKEE — The Chicago Cubs made one change to their roster before the NL Division Series, and it sheds light on their pitching plans against the Brewers.

The position-player group on the 26-man list remained the same, with 14 hitters. The pitching staff has just 12 arms, despite the ability to carry 13 pitchers and the increase from a three- to a five-game series.

The notable change wasn’t the addition of right-hander Javier Assad, but instead young righty Ben Brown was inserted into the bullpen.

And instead of taking the place of an extra position player, the Cubs opted to leave veteran left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers off the NLDS roster.

“I think a little bit of a nod to their personnel and the way we thought their lineups would work,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said before Saturday’s Game 1 at American Family Field. “A little bit of a nod to what the off days probably do in this series.

“Then adding Ben, just a different stuff mix than we think we have out there [in the bullpen] right now. Simple as that.”

Brown had a 5.92 ERA in 25 games (15 starts) this season, but he did go 2-0 with a 1.64 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in two starts against the Brewers. He struck out 25.6 percent of the batters he faced this season, and that swing-and-miss stuff can be an important factor in the postseason.

He did not finish the season on the big-league roster, as he was optioned to Triple-A Iowa on Sept. 15.

Rogers appeared on the wild-card roster, but he only got into one game. He threw a perfect inning of relief in Wednesday’s Game 2 loss.

While the Brewers do have several key left-handed hitters in their lineup, they also have plenty of switch-hitters and platoon options. And Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy has shown he will mix and match players however he sees fit.

So, Rogers — who has been better against lefties than righties this year and throughout his career — would not provide the Cubs the same advantage he did against a San Diego Padres lineup that was loaded with lefties.

Many believe Assad would be added to the roster — and might even be lined up to start Game 1 against the Brewers. But the Cubs instead opted to leave him inactive, adding Brown’s strikeout ability instead. That’s because the unique schedule means the Cubs might not need more than a three-man rotation.

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It is a best-of-five series, but three off days are built into the schedule if it goes the distance.

Here is the full schedule:

Saturday: Game 1
Sunday: Off
Monday: Game 2
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: Game 3
Thursday: Game 4
Friday: Off
Saturday: Game 5

That affords the Cubs the opportunity to heavily lean on their bullpen with all those off days while starters also have extra time to rest and recover between outings.

“The schedule of this five-game series is the reason you’d look at the bullpen way differently,” Murphy said. “It’s different than the regular season. It’s the tournament, as they say.

“But in the tournament now, you’ve got to take advantage of the off days, and the way you take advantage of it is you can be more aggressive with — both teams can be more aggressive with your bullpen.”

The Cubs haven’t announced starters beyond Matthew Boyd in Game 1, but Shota Imanaga and Jameson Taillon likely are options to start in this series.

Whonever starts Game 1 also can go on regular rest in Game 4, and the Game 2 starter would have four days of rest before Game 5.

That meant Assad wasn’t the right fit for the Cubs, even though Counsell said he was under strong consideration for the final pitching spot.

“Essentially, it was really just what are we going to need from the roster and some different type of pitchers down there?” Counsell said. “Ben’s ability to strike somebody out is something that we thought — it’s kind of a little small moment, but it could be something that — that’s something Ben can do.”