The St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers open a four-game series at American Family Field in Milwaukee and St. Louis is still looking to try to maintain that final playoff spot in the National League, and here’s the best Cardinals vs. Brewers betting pick for Monday, September 20, 2021. 

The rulers are thought favorites for Monday’s clash at -182, while the Cardinals sit at +166 moneyline odds with a total of 8.0 runs on Bookmaker Sportsbook. Milwaukee is 8-7 against St. Louis this season.

Cardinals Rolling Entering Series

The St. Louis Cardinals hold a 2.5 game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres for the final wildcard spot entering Sunday’s competition. St. Louis has helped themselves greatly of late, winning seven straight games, including the first two games over the Padres in their weekend series. This came after the team started out with an abysmal 2-5 record to begin September.

St. Louis is getting outstanding production offensively, posting .251/.306/.458 this month and they are third in homeruns with 29. The pitching staff has been solid as well, with the eighth best ERA at 3.88.

St. Louis will start right-hander Jake Woodford. Woodford is 2-3 with a 4.30 ERA. He began the season in the bullpen, but has started in five of his last six appearances. Woodford has a 2.03 ERA in three appearances and September, posting a .200 opponent batting average and a 0.98 WHIP. He has yet to give a homerun this month.

Woodford has faced Milwaukee twice this season. The first came in a relief appearance back on April 10 when he tossed 1.2 shutout innings. His last appearance was also out of the bullpen on September 4, when he allowed no runs on two hits in 5.1 innings.

Brewers Lock Top Spot in Central

At 91-57 entering Sunday’s game, Milwaukee has clinched the top spot in the NL Central and still has an outside chance of earning the top overall spot in the National League. They have also been playing very well, going 10-5 through the first 15 games of September.

The offensive numbers for the Brewers this month are solid, but not impressive at .246/.305/.351. The team has hit 19 homers and is 16th in runs scored this month. Pitching has been spectacular, however, as they have the fifth best ERA at 3.56, posting an impressive 1.13 WHIP, third best overall.

Milwaukee will start right-hander Freddie Peralta. Peralta is 9-4 with a 2.57 ERA in 25 starts and one relief appearance. After dominating through the first four months of the season, the right-hander posted a 4.73 ERA in August and has a 3.86 ERA in September. However, he did toss six shutout innings in his last start.

Peralta has not fared well against St. Louis this season. In his first outing, back on May 11, he tossed seven shutout innings. However, he has been rocked in his last two outings against them. He gave up three runs in two innings on August 18 and four runs in two innings on September 3.

Trends:

St. Louis:

  • 7-0 in their last seven games.
  • 14-5 in their last 19 games on the road.

Milwaukee:

  • None

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Milwaukee Brewers Pick

Both of these teams are playing very good baseball of late. In addition, Milwaukee took two of three games the last time these two teams faced one another. That was also in Milwaukee.

However, I like the pitching matchup for the Cardinals. Woodford has been outstanding of late, and he is keeping runners off the base paths and keeping the ball in the park. Peralta has had no answers for the Cardinals over his last two appearances, and both of those outings were within the last couple of weeks. I do not expect that he has fixed this problem so quickly.

Pick: Take St. Louis Cardinals at +166

The Total:

These teams have gone over in four of the last five meetings and they have scored more than eight runs total in four of the last five meetings. You have a hot hitting Cardinals club against a Milwaukee team that is getting exceptional pitching. However, their starter has not been as dominating, especially against St. Louis.

St. Louis is averaging nearly 5 runs per game this month while Milwaukee is averaging about 4.5. This game is going to have some fireworks.

Pick: Go over 8.0 runs at -115