Game of the Week: August 23: MIL @ STL

[Commissioner Erick]

Milwaukee Brewers (90-34) @ St. Louis Cardinals (44-79)

MIL: Branden Andexler (15-2, 2.38)
STL: Brandon Finnegan (3-3, 4.05)


Brewers 5 Key Stats

9: Wins in 10 Games against the Cardinals this year. The Brewers started their season with a win against the Cardinals and dominated them early in the year, going 9-1 against them before the calendar turned to May. They haven’t faced the Cardinals since April 28.

.172: Will Dulihanty’s average this year. Wombat has cratered after a strong 2026 where he hit .251 with 30 homers. He’s still walking, but his slugging percentage is .294. Luke Grimmelbein has soured on him, and with Nick Rollins and Luis Rivera returning from injury, Dulihanty may struggle to find himself in Milwaukee’s playoff rotation.

15-2: Branden Andexler’s record this year. With Mike Arnold pulling his hamstring and Tim Kierstead getting hit by a train, Milwaukee has needed Andexler to prop up a rotation beset by injuries. Scruffy has been phenomenal in his second full season, with a 2.38 ERA that ranks third in the league, and a 0.98 WHIP that’s tied for second. He prevents home runs and dominates lefties, holding them to a .175 average this year.

160: Milwaukee’s home run count. Milwaukee is only fifth in the league in home runs, but second in offense. They’ve achieved their success by dominating the plate. They have the best strikeout and walk rates in the league, and have the most sacrifice flies, not wasting opportunities to bring in offense.

.775: Milwaukee’s OPS against lefties this year. Last year, Milwaukee’s OPS against lefties was .731 and it really held them back. They’re not as good against righties this year, but they’ve been a more balanced team.


Cardinals 5 Key Stats

.675: St. Louis’ OPS against righties. Only Miami and Pittsburgh have worse marks. The Cardinals just haven’t been able to produce offensively, and it’s crippled them this year.

.993: Addison Russell’s OPS: Despite St. Louis’ struggles, they’ve only given Russell 191 Plate Appearances to keep him from vesting into a $50 million contract. Russell’s hit extremely well this year and may be the only Cardinals player who could get to Andexler today.

6.44: Sergio Ochoa’s ERA: Once a first overall pick and a Top 10 Prospect, Ochoa has been one of the most disappointing prospects in PBA history. Taken in the Rule V draft by the Cardinals last year, he had an uneven, but promising campaign, going 6-12 but striking out 125 batters in 129 innings. He was wild, but the hope would be that he would get better. Instead, he still has a huge walk rate, issuing 29 free passes in 43 innings. He’s striking out more than a batter an inning, but it’s been entirely out of the pen. Instead of looking like a steal as a free ace, Ochoa may just be an erratic middle reliever.

5: Home Runs for Juan Soto. Soto was a significant part of the 2025 NL East winning Washington Nationals with 29 home runs. Roughly a week before the playoffs, he got drafted for jury duty in the Dominican Republic—for nearly a full year. He returned late in the year, hit well in limited plate appearances, but was allowed to walk in free agency. The home run power disappeared this offseason as a year without professional baseball sapped his timing. A free agent after the year, he may need to prove himself overseas with his next contract.

$23.8 million: St. Louis’ merchandise revenue this year. Long a market that will get its fans buying jerseys, this year has been no exception. St. Louis is third in the league in merchandise revenue. With a number of veterans moved out and Addison Russell not playing much, that number likely won’t rise much in September.


Questions for the GMs:


For Luke Grimmelbein, Nick Rollins and Luis Rivera have healed up. Will we see them in the lineup today or will they go on rehab assignments?

Josh Young has a day-to-day injury that looks like it will take a month to heal. Will you place him on the IL?

Your lineup is better against lefties than its been, but worse against righties. Are you fine with the tradeoff?

For Tim Lentz, you have a National TV game against one of the best pitchers in baseball. Will we see Big Vesty, Addison Russell today?

How has the opener/follower strategy worked for you thus far?

Have you been happy with the performance of any of your youngsters this year?


TRIVIA: Which team leads the league in merchandise revenue as of August 23?

[brewersgm]

Feb 18, 2022 9:03:32 GMT -5 Commissioner Erick said:

Questions for the GMs:


For Luke Grimmelbein, Nick Rollins and Luis Rivera have healed up. Will we see them in the lineup today or will they go on rehab assignments?

Josh Young has a day-to-day injury that looks like it will take a month to heal. Will you place him on the IL?

Your lineup is better against lefties than its been, but worse against righties. Are you fine with the tradeoff?

1. Rollins and Rivera will go on rehab assignments. It's unfortunate that they will miss a nationally televised game but we have our eyes on bigger nationally televised games in the future. We want to make sure everyone is as healthy as they can be. With our division lead we don't feel like we have to push anyone right now.

2. Josh will go on the IL, along with Mike Arnold. We're taking no chances this late in the season.

3. I think so. Jacks hasn't hit righties as well as in his MVP campaign, and as you mentioned Dulihanty's drop off has been a problem. Meanwhile our RH batters have continued to hit lefties well. I think with our fully healthy lineup we are balanced and deep, and can take on either side of the plate, it's just a question of getting everyone healthy and ready for October.

[stlgm]

If Milwaukee starts a LHP as projected, Russell will take his usual spot in the lineup. Otherwise, he'll just be a pinch hitter. No changes for Russell, I'd rather get the youngsters used to the spotlight.

The opener/follower strategy has helped in a sense. Basically I've had my three lefty arms open for my less talented righty starters. If you look at the splits, the openers have been real good when they start. The problem is those five batters they face aren't enough in the long run, the less talented righty starters still suck. So we keep the game close for the first two innings, and then it all hits the fan and we get blown out the rest of the game. The pitching staff will be revamped again this offseason with most of my FA signings only signing one year deals and not working out, plus prospects waiting in the wings (hello Detres). May have Wallace and Vargas join the rotation for the final month of the season as well just to see what they have to offer in the rotation.

I've been happy with Mochizuki who was the NL All Star starter!!!1! (lol) He's looking like a solid mid-rotation guy for time to come. Mills was a disappointment, but has come along in August. de Vos has been alright and will probably have a starting role next season, Wallace has been good despite the ERA, Vargas has potential I think making a big jump to the bigs. Stephany and Ochoa continue to disappoint and we'll have to re-evaluate their place in the rebuild after this season.

[Commissioner Erick]

Brewers 3 - Cardinals 2


WP: B. Andexler (16-2)
LP: C. Adams (3-4)
SV: J. Dyck (8)


Milwaukee rode a good effort from starter Branden Andexler to beat the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. The final score was 3-2. Earning the save was Joe Dyck. He's now cashed in 8 of 11 save opportunities. The victory gives Milwaukee a record of 91-34.

Greg Jacks, the reigning Most Valuable Player Award winner , had a direct impact on the outcome. Jacks contributed a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth inning to put Milwaukee up, 1-0.

"There are no moral victories," said losing manager Tim Lentz.


Questions for the GMs:


For Luke Grimmelbein, St. Louis has been scuffling, but you only put up three runs. Are you concerned with your offense moving into the playoffs?

Noah Campbell is hitting over .300, but has only two home runs. Why did you bat him fifth?

Your team only got a runner to third with less than two outs once, but you cashed in with a Greg Jacks sac fly. Have you specifically built your team with the ability to bring runners home from third and less than two outs in mind?

For Tim Lentz, I know you want to keep Addison Russell's contract from vesting, but it must kill you to leave talent on the bench in a national TV game. Will there get to a point where Russell gets more playing time in September?

Aydan Beaubien is incredibly slow. He tried to come home on a Franklin Barreto fly ball in the third but Jacks gunned him down. Did you agree with the aggressiveness?

Jacob Amaya went 0-3 today, bringing his average down to .252 and his slugging percentage to .323. He's been merely adequate on defense. Will he be on the team next year?


TRIVIA: Who are the only two pitchers to pitch 200+ innings in a season for Milwaukee?

[brewersgm]

Feb 19, 2022 12:33:48 GMT -5 Commissioner Erick said:

Questions for the GMs:


For Luke Grimmelbein, St. Louis has been scuffling, but you only put up three runs. Are you concerned with your offense moving into the playoffs?

Noah Campbell is hitting over .300, but has only two home runs. Why did you bat him fifth?

Your team only got a runner to third with less than two outs once, but you cashed in with a Greg Jacks sac fly. Have you specifically built your team with the ability to bring runners home from third and less than two outs in mind?

1. A little bit but we were without two of our best hitters in Luis Rivera and Nick Rollins this game. When those guys are healthy our lineup becomes much deeper and better. They are our regular #2 and #5 hitters. If we have our lineup fully healthy for the playoffs I believe we can match up with anyone.

2. With Rivera and Rollins out, Campbell actually has the 4th highest wOBA on the team, and one of the guys ahead of him, Calvin Greenfield only has around 100 PA. That's why he batted so high in our order today.

3. Not specifically but I think our teams ability to avoid strikeouts has helped a lot with this. We almost always either put the ball in play or walk so we have lots of guys on 3rd with less that two outs and the situational hitting to get them in. Jacks in particular is exactly the type of hitter I like to see up in that situation. He has the best bat to ball skills on our team and nearly always puts the ball in play.

[stlgm]

1. I just don't see the point of giving Russell reps. He won't be with the team next season, there's no postseason hopes. I'd rather get the younger players the reps to see what we have. Russell would be off the roster altogether if it didn't result in those vesting options being paid if I release him.

2. Beaubian shouldn't be sent there, maybe it's my fault for not adjusting his individual strategy sliders. We'll be having a discussion with 3B Coach Jorge Gutierrez after that one.

3. Amaya wasn't kept around for his bat, but we expected more from his glove. The goal was for him to bring near-gold glove defense to help these young pitchers, and he just hasn't been the guy. Given he's estimated to get another big raise through arbitration, he will be one of the first roster decisions we make this offseason.

[Commissioner Erick]

TRIVIA 1: Daniel correctly guessed the Yanks!

[Commissioner Erick]

TRIVIA 2: Luis Ortiz and German Marquez. Since Luke guessed Ortiz and nobody guessed Marquez, Luke is getting a full point.