Milwaukee Brewers vs. St. Louis Cardinals Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 5/26/2022

Time: 7:45 p.m. ET

Venue: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, MO

Where to watch: Bally Sports Wisconsin, Bally Sports Midwest

DraftKings: Cardinals -120, Brewers +100

BetMGM: Cardinals -125, Brewers +105

Caesars: Cardinals -120, Brewers +100

Brewers: 28-16

Cardinals: 24-19

The penultimate NL Central battle gets underway for a four-game series on Thursday with the Milwaukee Brewers taking on the St. Louis Cardinals. And this seems to be the perfect time to see where the teams are stacked against each other.

The top two squads in the Central, starting with the first-place Brewers after a series victory against the San Diego Padres in what was a combination of dominant pitching and timely hitting. The Brewers took two of three against the red-hot Padres, and likely MVP frontrunner Manny Machado, and Milwaukee held the Padres to just one run in each of the last two games.

The crazy thing is it only took four hits for the Brewers to get the win, and both runs came in the top of the seventh inning. Of those four hits, two of them came from Andrew McCutchen, who is having one hell of a renaissance season that has pushed his average to .252. If you had that on your bingo card through the first quarter of the season, good on you.

What was even more impressive of this was the Brewers were able to shut the door without star closer Josh Hader, who was out with a family emergency. Devin Williams came in and got the save.

"That's what a unit does, is they pick each other up," manager Craig Counsell said. "We're missing Josh and a lot of guys delivered some great stuff."

While the Brewers are atop the NL Central right now, everyone knows that the Cardinals are the ones chasing them. St. Louis had a lot of instances where they almost caught up to the Brewers in the standings. This will be the first instance where we see how the teams will stack up. It's going to be 

The St. Louis Cardinals' four-game winning streak came to an end in an emphatic way on Tuesday in the 8-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, one day after needing a walk-off grand slam from Paul Goldschmidt to get the win over the struggling Blue Jays.

"Game got away from us," St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said. "Gave up some extra outs. Not our best baseball."

It was a dominant outing from Kevin Gausman with him going six innings and striking out eight, and the Cardinals only mustered only six hits in that game. Jordan Hicks, on the other side, lasting just a shade over three innings.

"The whole game I felt like I didn't have command of my fastball," Hicks said. "The fastball is the game changer for me. I can't be out there throwing slider or curveball every pitch. It's frustrating."

The Cardinals hit a snag earlier in the month after losing three of four to the New York Mets, the best team in the National League. Perhaps some motivation will get them into a groove again.

The last time these two teams met, they split the four-game series in mid-April in Milwaukee. I think the Cardinals want to get off to a good start at home, and I expect that to be the case on Thursday. Cardinals win 6-4

Brewers are 23-16 as a road dog with a line between +100 and +150 the past three seasons.

Brewers are 31-36 as an underdog the past three seasons.

Cardinals are 15-6 this season as a favorite.

Cardinals are 9-4 against division opponents this season.

Brewers:
Kolten Wong (L) 2B
Luis Urias (R) SS
Christian Yelich (L) LF
Andrew McCutchen (R) DH
Rowdy Tellez (L) 1B
Tyrone Taylor (R) RF
Omar Narvaez (L) C
Lorenzo Cain (R) CF
Jace Peterson (L) 3B
SP - Eric Lauer

Cardinals:
Tommy Edman (S) SS
Brendan Donovan (L) RF
Paul Goldschmidt (R) 1B
Nolan Arenado (R) 3B
Juan Yepez (R) DH
Nolan Gorman (L) 2B
Corey Dickerson (L) LF
Harrison Bader (R) CF
Andrew Knizner (R) C
SP - Adam Wainwright

Batting average: Hunter Renfroe -- .266

Hits: Hunter Renfroe -- 38

Home runs: Two tied -- 9

RBI: Rowdy Tellez -- 33

Wins: Brandon Woodruff -- 5

Saves: Josh Hader -- 15

ERA: Corbin Burnes -- 2.18

Batting average: Paul Goldschmidt -- .344

Hits: Paul Goldschmidt -- 55

Home runs: Nolan Arenado -- 9

RBI: Paul Goldschmidt -- 33

Wins: Adam Wainwright -- 5

Saves: Giovanny Gallegos -- 8

ERA: Miles Mikolas -- 1.96