The Milwaukee Brewers will face the St. Louis Cardinals for the start of their final rivalry matchup on Monday afternoon.

It’s been a disappointing season for the Cardinals, but they have recently found some encouraging players to build around for next year. A 14-7 victory over the Yankees was highlighted by Jordan Walker’s five-hit night to end their most recent series. Walker is a budding star for the club at just 22 years old despite already having over 500 major league at-bats.

Among many concerns has been the lack of productive pitching in St. Louis. Extensive trades and free agent signings have still led to a 4.18 ERA, ranking 20th in the majors. Andre Pallante might be the most interesting figure set to start against Milwaukee. After spending much of his MLB career as a reliever, he’s been moved back into the rotation with mixed results. The other two starters, Sonny Gray and Erick Fedde, are talented pitchers, but underperformed expectations in the Cardinals’ playoff hunt.

It’s been a one-sided tale of dominance for the rivalry in 2024. The Brewers enter the series with a 7-3 record against St. Louis and look very capable of making that number even more one-sided. Although there are now some new names in the lineup, it hasn’t rapidly transformed the Cardinals’ season. They rank 20th in wRC+ over the full season and 20th in just the last 30 days. Will they prove to be a renewed threat as the Brewers vie for the best record in the National League?

Probable Pitchers

Monday, September 2 @ 1:10 p.m: Freddy Peralta (3.70 ERA, 4.10 FIP) vs. Andre Pallante (3.80 ERA, 3.75 FIP)

Brewers’ ace Freddy Peralta gets a chance to kick off the month with a victory in his fourth start against St. Louis this season. His most recent showing in the rivalry was a five-inning shutout, but it came with just two strikeouts. After his dominant outing against the Giants, will he be able to show that same level of swing-and-miss against the Cardinals? His fastball usage was his highest in his most recent of those previous three outings against the Cardinals, so he simply might not be relying on his breaking balls to get outs against this team.

Andre Pallante was an unexpected success for the Cardinals rotation after spending the first half of the year in the bullpen. His 3.50 ERA since joining the staff in late May has been one of the better marks on the team. His 6.78 K/9 and 3.28 BB/9 don’t stick out as particularly impressive, but he’s done a great job of limiting runs in recent weeks. His last four starts, all against playoff contenders, have resulted in a 2.13 ERA over 25 ¹⁄₃ innings.

Tuesday, September 3 @ 6:40 p.m: Aaron Civale (4.59 ERA, 4.73 FIP) vs. Sonny Gray (3.96 ERA, 3.37 FIP)

Civale looked great in his last start against the Giants. Across seven innings, he allowed just two hits and struck out seven. Was that a sign of progress for Civale, or simply preying on a strikeout-prone Giants lineup? This will be his first matchup against the Cardinals in 2024. Civale has now put together a solid body of work for Milwaukee with a 3.72 ERA since becoming a Brewer.

Gray’s first season with the Cardinals has been a slight disappointment compared his stellar 2023. Although he is still capable of taking over a game, the Brewers might be catching him at just the right time. Over his last four starts, Gray has allowed seven home runs in 22 innings while pitching to a 5.73 ERA. Those outings have all lasted fewer than seven innings after hitting that mark in four of his previous five starts. That might sound like an opportunity, but it’s important to still be wary of his strikeout potential. He’s struck out at least six batters in 11 of his last 12 starts.

Wednesday, September 3 @ 6:40 p.m: Colin Rea (3.70 ERA, 4.60 FIP) vs. Erick Fedde (3.43 ERA, 4.05 FIP)

Rea will be an important pitcher to follow in this start. After a brilliant season, the past two starts have dampened some of that sheen. It’s a small sample, to be sure, so it’s more of a speed bump than anything. But those two starts led to eight earned runs over 10 ²⁄₃ innings against non-playoff teams. Like any pitcher, Rea’s pitch-mix is a factor as he goes from start to start. His last outing was his highest-percentage usage of his slider all season.

Fedde was one of the key deadline moves for St. Louis after thriving with the White Sox to rejuvenate his major league career. His stint with the Cardinals has been less effective with an ERA jump from 3.11 to 4.64. His last two starts were a mixed bag with one great start against the Twins and one four-run start the Yankees. While the run prevention hasn’t been reliable as a Cardinal, those two recent starts showcased some of Fedde’s strikeout potential. Seven and eight strikeouts, respectively, marked his two highest totals since joining his new team.

Prediction

The Cardinals don’t seem capable of matching the Brewers’ offense at this point, but it should be a competitive series. Many of the Cardinals’ regulars are rounding into form, although it’s too late for a playoff run. I trust the Brewers’ bullpen more and the power potential combined with depth in the lineup should be enough to take the series.

Surrogates for former President Donald Trump’s campaign will hold a town hall event in Milwaukee Thursday evening, the same day President Joe Biden is set to visit southwestern Wisconsin.

The event is billed as part of the Agenda 47 Policy Tour, which refers to Trump’s official campaign platform. Democrats have seized on Project 2025, a conservative blueprint created by the Heritage Foundation, which Trump has tried to distance himself from.

Participants in the town hall include North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who was once considered a potential running mate for Trump.

Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, who represents southeastern Wisconsin, will also attend, along with former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson. Monica Crowley, a former Trump administration official and conservative commentator, is also listed in the announcement.

The town hall is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at Jan Serr Studio, located within the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Kenilworth Square East building. Tickets are available at this link.

The time and exact location of Biden’s visit on Thursday has not yet been announced. Trump also plans to hold a rally in Mosinee on Saturday.

Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward won the opening race of IndyCar’s double-header weekend at The Milwaukee Mile, beating Team Penske’s title challenger Will Power.

After starting sixth, 25-year-old O’Ward surged forward and controlled the race for 133 of 250 laps in the first IndyCar race staged at the track since 2015.

“We had a really tough weekend last weekend at Portland, and this is a great way to bounce back,” said O’Ward after taking his third victory of the season by 1.8215s.

“The car was fantastic; it was getting a little gnarly in the end, but glad I could bring it home for the boys.

“They were fantastic on pit stops, the strategy was amazing. We worked on the car really hard yesterday to really have something to fight with today.”

A late caution during a pit cycle shook up some of the frontrunners, including Conor Daly, who ended up on the podium and gave Juncos Hollinger Racing its best-ever finish in third.

AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci was fourth, followed by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou in fifth, with Power closing his points lead to 43 points as a result (514-471). 

While the initial start was waved off, polesitter Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske) was able to quickly gap the field once the green flag waved on lap 2. The biggest mover out of the gate was Daly, who used the high lane to take several three-wide passes and charge from 25th up to 15th in the opening 10 laps. 

The frantic start quickly settled in, with McLaughlin holding a 0.9095s lead over Linus Lundqvist (Ganassi) on lap 20 while David Malukas (Meyer Shank Racing) ran third as they began to catch backmarkers. 

Deeper in the field saw Josef Newgarden, who qualified second but dropped nine starting spots as a result of penalty for an engine change, advance past Marcus Ericsson.

The continued navigation of backmarkers saw McLaughlin’s lead continue to accordion over Lundqvist, before the Swede moved ahead with a Turn 1 pass on lap 49.

The lead for Lundqvist expanded to 4.6209s over McLaughlin by lap 61 as the first pitstop cycle began, Lundqivst pitting a lap later than McLaughlin and Malukas on lap 66. 

The green flag pit stops wrapped up on lap 71, with O’Ward leading by 0.6525s over Colton Herta, McLaughlin cycling out third with Lundqvist in fourth. 

Herta took the lead shortly before a caution on lap 83 was necessitated by Katherine Legge spinning in Turn 2. McLaughlin then went off-strategy in electing not to pit, so led the field the lap 95 restart as Herta and O’Ward battled for second.

O’Ward pushed past McLaughlin with an inside pass into Turn 1 and began to pull away before the next round of stops, resuming with the lead this time over an early-stopping Newgarden.

But his promising race came to an end after contact on lap 147 battling Ericsson for second, with the Swede spinning to the inside and taking Newgarden with him into the barriers. Following closely beind, Palou squeaked by without incident. 

Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet, pit stop

Photo by: Geoffrey M. Miller / Motorsport Images

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O’Ward led the field to the restart on lap 157, with Palou in second, followed by Power. The positions were unchanged until the next caution was triggered by Herta losing his left-front tyre during the next pit sequence.

Power briefly became the new the leader, ahead of Daly, Lundqvist and O’Ward, until he pitted from the lead on lap 195. With Daly and Lundqvist following in for service, O’Ward assumed the race lead, Ferrucci slotted into second and Power resumed in third. 

O’Ward brought the field to the green flag on lap 203 an was untroubled by Ferrucci, who was shuffled back two spots when Power dived to the inside with 28 laps to go as Daly also got by. 

Palou too momentarily passed Ferrucci, before he fought back and reclaimed fourth.

O’Ward’s advantage over Power dipped as low as 0.3s with 13 laps to go, but the Mexican never faced a serious challenge before taking the flag.

IndyCar Milwaukee Race Results