The St. Louis Cardinals are 27-26 this season and locked in a tight battle with the 29-28 Cincinnati Reds and the 27-28 Milwaukee Brewers for the second-best record in the National League Central. The Cardinals host the Brewers in a five-game series starting Thursday night that will play a major role in determining the postseason fate of these division rivals.
- Date/Time: September 24, 8:15 p.m. ET
- Stadium: Busch Stadium
- TV Coverage: ESPN+
- Sportsbook Odds: Cardinals -108 | O/U 8 (Line History)
- Brewers vs Cardinals Matchup Report
Sportsbook Odds Analysis
St. Louis opened as a -108 home favorite in Thursday’s series opener, but early bettors pounded the Brewers to turn Milwaukee into a -140 road favorite. The Cardinals are now going off at +120. The total has also moved from its opener at 8 runs down to 7.5 runs. St. Louis is a respectable 11-14 as a betting underdog.
Starting Pitchers Analysis
Corbin Burnes has been nothing short of sensational in his transition from a bullpen arm into a starting pitcher this season. The 25-year-old owns a dazzling 1.77 ERA and 0.95 WHIP with 83 strikeouts in 56 innings pitched. Burnes has allowed only one earned run across his last five starts, leading the Brewers to a 4-1 record over that stretch.
Kwang-Hyun Kim had the first bad start of his career in his last trip to the mound, allowing four earned runs in 5.1 innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Previously, Kim had been virtually unhittable with a 0.63 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP in 28.2 innings. St. Louis is 5-2 in the seven games that Kim has appeared in this season.
Milwaukee News & Notes
The Brewers entered their road series against the Cincinnati Reds this week on a four-game winning streak but were only able to take one of three games against the Reds. Milwaukee is just 3-8 over its last 11 road games heading into this potentially season-defining five-game road stretch against the Cardinals.
Hopes that Christian Yelich would find his form as the season went on have not come to pass. The 2018 MVP who batted .329 with 100 runs, 44 home runs and 97 RBIs in 130 games last season has batted just .210 this season with 37 runs, 11 home runs and 21 RBIs. Yelich’s struggles have contributed to Milwaukee’s disappointing 4.29 runs per game on offense this season.
St. Louis News & Notes
St. Louis took four of the five games it played against the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates last week but failed to take advantage of a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals this week, losing 4-1 as a -200 favorite on Monday and 12-3 as a -131 favorite on Wednesday.
The Cardinals have the fifth-best team ERA in the National League with a 4.04 mark but have been hampered by an offense averaging only 4.19 runs per game.
The Cardinals lost three of the five games that they played against the Brewers in Milwaukee earlier this month. They’ll need a better result than that this time around to keep on pace for a playoff spot.
Betting Pick: UNDER 8 runs
Two excellent starting pitchers are on the mound against two below-average offensive teams. This looks like a pretty clear spot for a low-scoring series opener.
- Milwaukee is 5-2 in its last 7 games vs St. Louis.
- St. Louis is 13-13 at home this season.
- The UNDER is 5-2 in Milwaukee’s last 7 games.
