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Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals
MLB Expert Picks, April 20
This will be the second game of a three game series between these two NL Central rivals. The Brewers traveled to St. Louis for the first matchup between these teams this season. The Brewers have started this season red hot, sitting in first place in the division and going 12-6 overall, while the Cardinals are currently last in the division at 9-11. The Brewers are coming off a tough home series loss to the Padres and they were really having trouble scoring. A big part of the problem is that Christian Yelich, who was on fire to start the season, has been added to the IL with back issues. The Cardinals are coming off a road trip and a series win in Oakland. It was the last time the Cardinals will ever play in Oakland after the Athletics announced they'll be playing in Sacramento the next couple years. St. Louis did win that series, though, and that series win looks a lot better right now against an Athletics team that has been winning some games lately.
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This starting pitching matchup will feature rookie DL Hall for the Brewers against veteran Miles Mikolas for the Cardinals. Hall was acquired from the Orioles in the offseason in the trade for Corbin Burnes and he was a prized prospect. He pitched in 18 games last season for the Orioles and went 3-0 with a 3.26 ERA out of the bullpen, however he came up as a starting pitcher and is being used as a starter by the Brewers. He has made three starts this season and he is 0-1 with a 7.11 ERA. He pitched decently in his first start of the season going four innings but allowing just two earned runs. He pitched very well in his second start of the season against the Mariners at home and was just two outs away from a quality start. In his most recent start, he faced his former team, the Orioles. He allowed five earned runs in 3.1 innings pitched, turning in his worst performance of the season.
Miles Mikolas is in his ninth season in MLB and he is 1-2 with a 5.82 ERA this season in four starts. However, he has faced some tough teams. He struggled against both the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks, but those are two good lineups and both those games were on the road. He pitched 6.2 innings and allowed just two earned runs in his only home start against the Phillies, and he also pitched a quality start on the road against the Padres. He faced the Brewers twice last season and allowed five earned runs in five innings pitched in his first start that didn't come until September, and then allowed just one earned run in seven innings pitched in his very next outing.
Both these teams had the day off on Thursday so both should have everyone in their bullpen available despite the extra inning game last night. Both bullpens have been good to start the season too. The Cardinals are ranked 8th in the league in bullpen ERA while the Brewers are ranked 11th in the league in bullpen ERA, so that is pretty much a wash. The Brewers are struggling to hit lately, like I mentioned earlier, and a lot of that is because they are missing Christian Yelich who was placed on the IL recently. The Brewers have scored three runs, three runs, one run and two runs in the four games where he hasn't been in the lineup, so I don't think their second-ranked offense against righties in terms of wOBA is very representative of how they are hitting right now. The Cardinals are actually ranked 26th in the league in wOBA against lefties so far this season, but they have a bunch of key righties in their lineup like Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and Willson Contreras who will get going sooner than later. The Cardinals bullpen also shouldn't have to cover as many innings with their ace on the mound while the Brewers bullpen should get extended with a pitcher on the mound who hasn't pitched more than 5.1 innings in a start yet this season.
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Cardinals Moneyline -125 (Draftkings)
