The Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals will wrap up their brief two-game series in St. Louis on Wednesday night. The Brewers spent the better part of the first half of the season in first-place but watched the Cardinals search past them by the all-star break and are now nearly ten games behind the Cardinals and likely relegated to going for a wildcard spot in the National League. The Cardinals have been one of the better teams in baseball since the all-star break and look to be in great shape to win the NL Central Division. The pitching matchup on Wednesday night will be Brewers ace Corbin Burnes (10-6, 2.93) taking on ageless wonder Adam Wainwright (10-9. 3.33). First pitch is scheduled for 7:45pm EST.
While the road to the NL Central Division crown appears to be just about closed off for the Brewers, they are still very much in the wildcard chase with twenty games left in the season. Coming into play on Tuesday night, the Brewers sit just two games in back of the Padres for the third and final wildcard spot in the National League. Milwaukee will need a strong closing push in the final three weeks to steal that spot away from the Padres. On Tuesday night, in game one of this critical series with the first-place Cardinals, the Brewers used eight different pitchers while producing 11 hits and eight runs to pull off a surprising 8-4 win. Milwaukee now trails the Cardinals by seven games heading into this second and final game of this series.
Before a big week against the Cardinals and Yankees, make sure you're caught up on the latest episode of Brewers Unfilt ered!
This week, the guys discuss the Crew's postseason hopes, pitching staff injuries and more.
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The Brewers mediocre play since the all-star game, 25-23, has left them with little room for error over the season's final three weeks. The team's starting staff, once thought as the backbone of the team, continues to struggle through injuries with lefty Eric Lauer being the latest to hit the IL with left shoulder inflammation. He joins fellow starter Freddy Peralta, also out with continued shoulder fatigue. The Brewers are hopeful to get starter Aaron Ashby back soon from his own shoulder issues but he still has not been stretched out to start. 2021 Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes faces an almost must-win situation in his every start from here on out. In his last five starts, Burnes is 2-1 but with an uncharacteristic 5.59 ERA. The Brewers can't afford any more mediocre starts from their ace down the stretch. Burnes is 2-0 with a 0.43 ERA against the Cardinals this season in three starts.