Series Preview 9/14-16: Cardinals at Brewers

There are just two weeks remaining in the 2020 regular season, and the Cardinals have 18 games left on the schedule — including 10 games with the Milwaukee Brewers. This week the Cardinals are in Milwaukee for five, with doubleheaders Monday and Wednesday and a single game Tuesday. With the Cardinals two-plus-week layoff due to COVID-19 in late July into August, all of the regular season games between these two teams this year will be in the final two weeks of the season.

At the start of play on Monday, the Cardinals sit at .500, with a record of 20-20. The Brewers, after a heartbreaking loss Saturday night (thanks, Jason Heyward) and getting no-hit by Alec Mills on Sunday, enter this week at 20-24. The Cubs are 28-20 and hold a four-game lead over the Cardinals in the Central.

On Monday, the Cardinals placed Austin Dean on the 10-day injured list with an elbow strain and activated lefty Kwang Hyun Kim. Kim, who had been dealing with a kidney ailment, will start the first game on Monday.

Perennial MVP candidate Christian Yelich has been scuffling in 2020, to say the least. Yelich has hit nine home runs but his .199 batting average, .762 OPS, and 56 strikeouts are far from normal for the 28-year-old. Brewers second baseman Keston Hiura leads the team with 11 homers, and formal Cardinal Jedd Gyorko has filled in nicely at first and third when needed.

In the Brewers’ loss to the Cubs on Saturday, lefty Josh Hader allowed four runs in the ninth inning — three on a dramatic home run by the left-handed-hitting Heyward. Corbin Burnes, Milwaukee’s starter for the second game on Monday, leads the National League with a .142 opponents’ batting average. His 1.99 ERA and 64 punchouts in 45 ¹⁄₃ innings are toward the top of the charts as well.

Game 1: Monday, 9/14, 4:10 | Josh Lindblom vs. Kwang Hyun Kim | FSMW, MLB Network, KMOX

Game 2: Corbin Burnes vs. Daniel Ponce de Leon | FSMW, KMOX

Tuesday, 9/15, 6:40 | Brett Anderson vs. Jack Flaherty | FSMW, KMOX

Game 1: Wednesday, 9/16, 4:10 | Brandon Woodruff vs. Adam Wainwright | FSMW, KMOX

Game 2: TBD vs. TBD FSMW, MLB Network, KMOX