St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers Betting Preview
NL Central rivals will square off in the first of a two-game series on Tuesday as the St. Louis Cardinals (89-65) take on the Milwaukee Brewers (82-71). The Brewers will host this one at American Family Field, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:40 pm ET.
The Cardinals are coming off of a series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend. After winning the first game 11-0, they lost the last two, including a 4-1 loss in the finale Sunday.
For Milwaukee, they had more success as they took three of four from the Cincinnati Reds over the weekend. After winning the first three, they dropped the finale 2-1.
Both the Cardinals and Brewers enjoyed an off day on Monday.
The Brewers are slight favorites playing at home. They are -110 to win, while the Cardinals’ moneyline sits at +100. The runline features St. Louis +1.5 (-205), and the over/under for total runs is eight.
Cardinals Try To Clinch Division
With a win in either of the two games in this series, the St. Louis Cardinals will clinch the NL Central. Preferring to get it out of the way early, expect the Cardinals to try to take care of business in the opener Tuesday.
On the mound for the Cardinals will be righty Miles Mikolas. In 31 games this season, he is 11-13 with a 3.35 ERA and 1.04 WHIP, and he has 144 strikeouts in 193.1 innings.
Mikolas has lost three straight outings, but he pitched better than his fate in his last start. He took the loss against the Padres despite giving up just one unearned run in six innings.
Offensively, keep an eye out for Paul Goldschmidt in this one. In 27 career at bats versus the Brewers’ Adrian Houser, he is hitting .296 with three home runs and ten runs batted in.
Brewers Fighting For A Playoff Spot
If the season ended today, the Milwaukee Brewers would be on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs. Still, sitting just 1.5 games behind the Phillies for the final Wild Card spot, expect the Brewers to fight until the very end.
With every win vital at this point, manager Craig Counsell will hand the ball to righty Adrian Houser for the opener. He is 6-9 in 21 games with a 4.62 ERA and 1.45 WHIP, and he has 66 strikeouts in 99.1 innings.
He took a no-decision in his last start against the Mets after going 4.2 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits in the contest.
There are several players for the Brewers who have homered against Miles Mikolas in their careers, but the ones with the best numbers are Tyrone Taylor (.429 avg, HR, 2 RBI) and Rowdy Tellez (.364 avg, HR, RBI).
A Lot Of Value In The Cardinals
This one is a tough one to call. While the Cardinals are just 2-4 in their last six road games, they are 8-4 in their last 12 games at American Family Field.
Milwaukee has won four of their last five games, but it is worth noting that three of those wins were against the lowly Cincinnati Reds.
Expect this to be a good game throughout, but with this basically being a coin flip type game, it is hard to bet against a Cardinals team that has been leaps and bounds better than Milwaukee this season and is trying to clinch a NL Central title.
With a lot of value as an underdog, take St. Louis to win at +100.
