Cary-Grove graduate Quinn Priester grew up rooting for the Cubs and cheered on his hometown team in his seat at Wrigley Field during Game 5 of the 2016 World Series.

At 4:08 p.m. Wednesday, the 6-foot-3, 210-pound right-hander will try and pitch the Milwaukee Brewers past the Cubs in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, opposing starting pitcher Jameson Taillon in a nationally-televised game on TBS.

Priester was announced as the Game 3 starter following the Brewers’ 7-3 win against the Cubs on Monday night at American Family Field in Milwaukee. The Brewers lead the best-of-five series 2-0.

The breakout star of the Brewers staff warmed up alongside opener Aaron Ashby for Game 2, but the team never intended to use him. Instead, Priester will make his playoff debut in Chicago, likely with a good number of converted Cubs-to-Brewers fans rooting on the former Trojans’ standout.

MLB.com reporter Adam McCalvy reported Monday that the Brewers only had Priester warming up for Game 2 to serve as a decoy, possibly hinting of his use as a “bulk reliever.”

The plan seemed to work for Brewers manager Pat Murphy.

“Did they say already that it was a total deke?” Priester asked a reporter in McCalvy’s MLB.com story. “Or did you just know, because it’s a total Brewers thing to do? I didn’t care. I thought, ‘If this is going to help us 1%, or help us on one at-bat or one pitch, why not?’ ”

Earlier this season, Priester did work as a “bulk reliever” against the Cubs in a May 2 game – a game in which the Cubs scored seven runs on him, swatting two home runs in a 10-0 victory.

He later started against the Cubs in Milwaukee on July 29, going 5⅔ innings and allowing two runs in a 9-3 win. On Aug. 21, he started at Wrigley Field, throwing 4⅓ innings and allowing one run in a 4-1 victory.

Priester ended the season with a 13-3 record, 3.32 ERA and 132 strikeouts in 157⅓ innings. His addition to the Brewers rotation was key as Milwaukee won the NL Central Division title with an MLB-best 97-65 record, five games ahead of the 92-70 Cubs in second place.

The Brewers certainly feel good about their chances with Priester on the mound.

And why shouldn’t they?

Before a 3-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Sept. 26 during the final regular-season series, Milwaukee had won 19 consecutive games in which Priester had pitched, a franchise record.

Priester, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2019 and later traded to the Boston Red Sox before joining the Brewers in April of this year, said Milwaukee’s infrastructure and personnel has helped bring out the best in him.

“I think a lot of it is these guys really believing in me,” Priester told the Northwest Herald’s Joe Aguilar in July. “Once I got here, it was, ‘We love what you do. We just want to help you to focus it and hone it a little bit,’ and that’s exactly what we did. We got with [pitching coach] Chris Hook and [assistant pitching coach] Jim Henderson and really got to work on some small things, keeping things tighter, keeping things moving fast in terms of having some good rhythm and pace.”