Milwaukee Brewers have their biggest series of the season versus the St. Louis Cardinals. Yes, they just had their biggest series versus the Chicago Cubs, but it continues to be big for Milwaukee. This series grew legs like a Stranger Things creature as St. Louis kept winning baseball games. Cardinals are red hot even after losing last night to Washington. How can the Brewers take two of three or sweep? I have a couple ideas.

1. No free bases except for Matt Carpenter – St. Louis is very difficult to strikeout when facing their starting nine. In the month of August, the Cardinals rank dead last in strikeouts, and they’re fourth in walks. Brewers are going to have to avoid walks and pitch to contact more often this weekend. This could be tough for all three pitchers.

2. How to deal with Mr. Salsa – You might have figured it out with number one, but I’m advocating not challenging Carpenter with any real pitches. He’s red hot and traditionally kills the Brewers. Brewers should try to avoid letting the potential National League MVP beat them.

3. Moose and Lo Cain stay hot – In the last seven days, Lorenzo Cain and Mike Moustakas are red hot. If not for two pinch hitting stints, Moose would be on an eight-game hitting streak. He’s rolling right now, and there’s no reason to take him out of the order. Cain is also hot with eight hits and one home run. These guys are going to be the catalysts this weekend.

4. Christian Yelich needs to recapture the magic – After a promising month, Yelich regressed a little bit. It was only natural. You cannot be hot for multiple months unless your name is Matt Carpenter. Yelich is hitting .130 with only three hits in his last 23 at-bats. He needs to get his stroke back this weekend.

5. No bullpen funny business – One major change from St. Louis since the last time Milwaukee played them is they retooled their bullpen with young talent. These games are going to be fights. I’ll be shocked if Milwaukee blows out St. Louis in any of the games this weekend. Brewers bullpen needs to be stellar. Deploy Josh Hader and other top relievers to empty the fucking tank.

Brewers win two games this weekend, they’ll be 2.5 games up on St. Louis with six more left to play. If the Cardinals win two, they’re on top of the Wild Card table. A Milwaukee sweep wouldn’t knock the Cardinals out, but it’d give the Crew some breathing room.
Give em hell.