Series Preview : Cardinals @ Brewers
Milwaukee, W.I. ~ After sweeping the San Diego Padres, the Milwaukee Brewers find themselves starting their season at home against division foes, the St. Louis Cardinals, in a series that could matter greatly come September. The red-hot Brewers could do some major damage in the NL Central if they perform well against the Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs, who come to town for a four-game series on Thursday.
Milwaukee and St. Louis are similar teams. They both feature dangerous line-ups, but have questions regarding the pitching staff. In the offseason, the Cardinals traded for slugger Marcell Ozuna, who will go well with stars Tommy Pham and Paul DeJong. Third basemen Matt Carpenter can also put the bat on the ball, and Jedd Gyorko. Miller Park’s opening series of 2018, will most likely include lots of scoring and close games.
The Cardinals lost their first two games of the season against the New York Mets before winning at Citi Field on Sunday.
The Brew Crew went 11-8 against the Cardinals last season, but St. Louis handed the Crew its decisive loss of the season on the penultimate day of the season.
Monday – Miles Mikolas vs. Zach Davies
Miles Mikolas will pitch for St. Louis today for the first time in the major leagues since 2014. He has spent the last three seasons in Japan, where he posted a 2.19 ERA. Before his time in Japan, he had a 5.32 ERA in 91.1 innings pitched. He played for the Rangers and Padres.
Tuesday – Jack Flaherty vs. Chase Anderson
Adam Wainwright’s spring training injury put Jack Flaherty in the starting rotation and his presence probably made the Cardinal pitching staff better. Flaherty struggled mightily in his first taste of big league experience giving up 15 runs in 21.1 innings pitched. However, he is still one of baseball’s Top 50 prospects mostly because of his dominance in the minor leagues. Flaherty made a start in the season finale against the Brewers, allowing four runs in five innings.
Sunday – Carlos Martinez vs. Jhoulys Chacin
Martinez is the Cardinals ace, but he had an off year in 2017, and even though he struck out 200 batters in 200 innings pitched, he allowed 27 home runs. His ERA was 3.64 last season.
Martinez had a habit for letting things get in his head after a bad pitch, and that’s how the Mets won on Opening Day. Several Mets players spoke about how they just waited for himself to get inside of his own mid. Martinez got pulled after walking six batters in 4.1 innings Thursday.
By Jacob Szczap