MILWAUKEE (WLS) — Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance is campaigning Friday in Milwaukee.

Sen. Vance is delivering his remarks to the Milwaukee Police Association, and is, appropriately, expected to focus on law enforcement, with the Republican campaign set on continuing to paint Democratic-led cities as violent, dangerous places to live.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

The event itself is closed to the public, with only about 60 people in attendance inside the police hall, including law enforcement and their families and a handful of public officials.

This is Vance’s second visit to Wisconsin this month.

The Republican vice presidential candidate was in Eau Claire on Aug. 7.

Chicago DNC 2024: Live updates on street closures, parking, protests and more

Wisconsin is one of the key battleground states that both parties will be heavily courting over the next three months.

And, in fact, Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, are scheduled to be in Milwaukee on Tuesday, as they make their way to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention.

The president of the Milwaukee Police Association said the Trump campaign reached out to them about two weeks ago, saying they were looking forward to hearing their concerns, which, much like those of CPD, surround retention and recruitment issues, at a time when the city is still coming down from its COVID-era highs, as it relates to crime.

“We want to know that we’re being supported, and, that obviously, back the blue, that people have our backs, because we are the ones that have the community’s back, you know,” Alexander Ayala said. “Know that police work, by its nature, is not always pretty, but it’s necessary, and people that hurt the most are the community when they don’t have enough police to answer those calls.”

Milwaukee police will have a role to play during the DNC next week.

The police association president said a contingent of around 100 of their officers will be heading down to Chicago help out, as needed.

The Cleveland Guardians and Milwaukee Brewers meet Friday in MLB game 1 action at American Family Field. Here’s a Milwaukee Brewers vs Cleveland Guardians Prediction. This article will include a Milwaukee Brewers vs Cleveland Guardians Pick.

Cleveland Guardians Betting Preview

The Cleveland Guardians are 72-49 on the year after playing the Twins and Cubs. The Cleveland Guardians have scored 17 runs in their last 3 games and 3 or fewer runs in 6 of their last 9 games. The Cleveland Guardians have lost 4 of their last 6 games when scoring 3 or fewer runs. Jose Ramirez leads the Cleveland Guardians with 131 hits and 98 RBI, while Steven Kwan and Andres Gimenez have combined for 234 hits and 86 RBI.

Milwaukee Brewers Betting Preview

The Milwaukee Brewers are 69-52 on the year after playing the Reds and Dodgers. The Milwaukee Brewers have scored 13 runs in their last 3 games and 4 or more runs in 5 of their last 9 games. The Milwaukee Brewers have won 6 straight games when scoring 4 or more runs. William Contreras leads the Milwaukee Brewers with 133 hits and 70 RBI, while Willy Adames and Brice Turang have combined for 223 hits and 130 RBI.

Cleveland Guardians vs Milwaukee Brewers Pitching Pick Matchup

Gavin Williams gets the ball for the Cleveland Guardians, and he is 2-4 with a 4.38 ERA and 42 strikeouts this season. Williams has allowed 12 hits and 7 runs in his last 10 innings. Williams has a 0.84 ERA and .167 allowed batting average in 21.1 road innings. This will be Williams’ first career game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Aaron Civale gets the ball for the Milwaukee Brewers, and he is 3-8 with a 5.02 ERA and 113 strikeouts this season. Civale has allowed 12 hits and 7 runs in his last 10.1 innings. Civale has a 3.78 ERA and .251 allowed batting average in 66.2 home innings. This will be Civale’s second career game against the Cleveland Guardians.

Why the Milwaukee Brewers will Beat the Guardians

• The Brewers have won each of their last six games as underdogs following a win.
• The Guardians have lost four of their last five games as road favorites against National League opponents following a win.
• The Brewers have covered the run line in each of their last 10 games as underdogs following a win.
• The Guardians have failed to cover the run line in each of their last nine Friday games against NL Central opponents.
• The Guardians have lost the first inning in each of their last three road games against NL Central opponents.
• The Brewers have led after 5 innings in each of their last six games against the Guardians.
• The Brewers have led after 3 innings in each of their last five games against the Guardians.

Milwaukee Brewers vs Cleveland Guardians Prediction

The Cleveland Guardians are still extremely profitable for MLB bettors, but this second half hasn’t been great, and the offense continues to struggle. The Milwaukee Brewers have played good ball over the last week or so, and there’s value with them at home and the cheap price. Aaron Civale needs to get his act together, but you’d think things will come together at some point. Civale is too talented of a pitcher to continue to give up crooked numbers. Give me the Brewers in this near pick em spot at home.

The Milwaukee Brewers have surprised a lot of observers of the sport this year. They’ve gotten out to baseball’s largest division lead despite losing their best player and their longtime, highly respected manager, despite a season-long injury to Brandon Woodruff, despite their All-Star closer not getting his first save of the season until August. Most pundits picked them to finish fourth or fifth in the National League Central.

Perhaps the only team in the majors that has been more surprising than the Brewers this year is the Cleveland Guardians. Many expected that Cleveland would be one of several teams that could compete for a relatively weak American League Central, but they certainly weren’t the favorite: they were 76-86 last season, and there weren’t any major offseason additions that would make them a clear favorite. Additionally, their best starting pitcher, Shane Bieber, made only two starts before going down with a UCL injury that required Tommy John surgery.

It turns out none of it has mattered. Cleveland improbably jumped out to the best record in baseball, where they still sit at 72-49, a half-game ahead of the Yankees for the league’s best record. And they’ve got a comfortable 4.5-game lead on the Minnesota Twins (the preseason favorite) in the AL Central.

How have they managed it? The number one reason is that that they’ve got the best bullpen ERA in the league…by more than half a run. Emmanuel Clase has been the best reliever in baseball this season (a 0.64 ERA and only seven walks through 56 ¹⁄₃ innings), but it’s not just him: Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, and Tim Herrin all have ERAs of 2.20 or lower in at least 49 innings.

They’ve also gotten solid production from their lineup, led by José Ramirez, who I think might make it to the Hall of Fame one day. A perennial MVP candidate that seemingly no one ever thinks about, Ramírez this season has 31 homers, 98 RBIs, 27 doubles, and 27 stolen bases in 30 tries. He’s on pace to surpass 5 WAR for the fourth straight season, and for the sixth time since 2016. He’s backed up in the lineup by Steven Kwan, who is no longer flirting with a .400 batting average, but who is third in the league in hitting at .325. Josh Naylor, for the third straight season, is providing a valuable run-producing role, as he has 26 homers and 88 runs batted in. One other player with solid production this year: former Brewers farmhand David Fry, who made an All-Star team this year as a 28-year-old DH in his second season. Fry was the PTBNL in the March 2022 trade for reliever J.C. Mejía. That one didn’t work out.

It’s worth noting that the last couple of weeks have been a little strange for the Guardians. From August 3-9, Cleveland lost seven in a row, their longest skid of the season by far. But they have won five in a row since then: the last two of a four-game set in Minnesota and a three-game sweep of the Cubs.

Probable Pitching Matchups

Friday, August 16 @ 7:10 p.m: Aaron Civale (4.88 ERA, 5.47 FIP) vs. Gavin Williams (4.38 ERA, 3.18 FIP)

Gavin Williams is a second-year pitcher who just turned 25 at the end of July. He had an excellent rookie season in which he had a 3.29 ERA in 82 innings across 16 starts. Things have not been as smooth in 2024—he has a 4.38 ERA in 39 innings—but his FIP is just 3.18, and he’s done a good job striking out batters (9.7 per nine) and limiting homers (only three in 39 innings). Williams missed the first three months of the season after suffering an elbow injury in spring training, so he may still be settling in. He is coming off his best start of the year: six innings, four hits, one run, and no walks in a 2-1 victory over the Twins on Saturday.

Aaron Civale is also coming off one of his best starts this season: 6 ¹⁄₃ innings and two runs allowed in an 8-3 victory over Cincinnati last Friday.

Saturday, August 17 @ 6:15 p.m: Freddy Peralta (4.11 ERA, 4.14 FIP) vs. Tanner Bibee (3.39 ERA, 3.40 FIP)

Freddy Peralta’s frustrating season continued Monday, when he allowed two two-run homers in six innings against the Dodgers in a 5-2 loss. He’s faced some good pitching lately (including two recent matchups with one of the NL’s Cy Young frontrunners in Chris Sale), and he’ll do so again on Saturday as he takes on Cleveland’s best starting pitcher this season, Tanner Bibee.

Bibee has allowed two or fewer runs in each of his last four starts, and on the season he’s 10-4 with solid peripherals (9.7 K/9, 2.2 BB/9). Bibee, who is 25 and right-handed, is in his second year, and he’s been quite good in both.

Sunday, August 18 @ 1:10 p.m: Colin Rea (3.72 ERA, 4.56 FIP) vs. Ben Lively (3.71 ERA, 5.02 FIP)

Ben Lively (no relation to Blake, as far as I know) is a bit of a journeyman: he’s 32 and first appeared in the majors with Kansas City in 2017 but this is the first season in which he has reached 100 innings pitched in the majors. He didn’t appear in a major league game between 2019 and 2023, when he resurfaced with Cincinnati. He’s had a reasonably good season, at 10-7 with a 3.71 ERA, but there’s some reason for dubiousness, as his 5.02 FIP is significantly higher than his ERA. He doesn’t strike out many batters and gives up some walks and homers, all indicators of trouble, but he’s managed to limit damage this season.

Lively’s not completely unlike his counterpart on Sunday, Colin Rea, who has been excellent for much of the season but got shelled by Los Angeles on Tuesday. Rea and Lively have nearly identical ERAs on the season, though that bad outing against the Dodgers inflated Rea’s, and while Rea’s FIP isn’t as bad as Lively’s it’s still a solid tick higher than his ERA at 4.56.

Prediction

Cleveland comes in having won five in a row and they are thus hotter than Milwaukee, but they lost seven straight before that, so Milwaukee actually has the better record over the last two weeks. I’ll give Milwaukee the edge because they’re at home, but it should be a close, fun series between two of baseball’s best.