KEY POINTS

• The Brewers have won three of their last four series and are still 1.5 games behind the Phillies in the Wild Card race. 
• They have eight games remaining in the season to catch Philadelphia. 
• The Brewers lost Tuesday against the Cardinals, but the Cubs did them a favor by beating the Phillies, so no ground was gained or lost.
• The team welcomed Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina to Milwaukee one last time as their final season ended.

September Surge

The Milwaukee Brewers are still chasing down the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres for one of the two National League Wild Card spots. They went into Cincinnati and took three of four from the Reds, bringing their September record above .500 to 13-11. The Brewers had their final off day of the season Monday, and none of the three teams gained or lost any ground in the race as they all had the day off. 

Entering play on Tuesday, the Brewers sat 1.5 games behind Philadelphia for the last spot, with the Padres pulling away slightly 1.5 games ahead of Philadelphia.

Final Homestand

The Brewers ended the 2022 season with a 9-game homestand. Home field advantage has proven helpful for the Crew as they are 42-30 at American Family Field this season. They have been playing strong at home since the middle of the summer with a 21-11 record. The team will need to continue playing well on home turf and start a remarkable run to overtake the Phillies for the final Wild Card slot. 

The Brewers are also heading into their final homestand of the season with low attendance numbers compared to previous years. They have only been hosting 30,423 fans on average this year which is their lowest average since 2016 – coincidentally, the last season, the Brewers were under .500 during a full-length season.

Adios, Albert

Brewers fans get their last chance to bid Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols farewell. Both players have declared 2022 to be their final MLB season. The two have combined for 21 All-Star Game appearances in their careers and terrorized the Brewers for over a decade. Pujols signed a one-year contract with the St. Louis Cardinals and returned to where his career began. 

Pujols entered his final season with 679 home runs and started his quest to 700. He finally did so on September 23rd against the Dodgers – the team he spent the 2021 season with. His 699th home run came off Andrew Heaney in the 3rd inning; then he hit his 700th in the 6th inning off former Brewer Phil Bickford. 

The Machine joined a legendary group of sluggers that night as only the fourth player to make it to 700 home runs. Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), and Babe Ruth (714) are the other three to hit that mark.

Brewers Pitching Struggles Tuesday

While the Brewers entered play Tuesday only 1.5 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the Wild Card race, they did not play like it. Adrian Houser took the mound for the Crew and was not on his game from the start. Brendan Donovan led off the game with a double against Houser and was knocked in by Paul Goldschmidt on a sacrifice fly. Houser then threw a wild pitch in the 2nd inning, which put the Brewers down 2-0 early. 

Adrian Houser was injured in the 4th inning, so Brent Suter was forced to come in with a short warmup for the Brewers. His first pitch was a ball to Albert Pujols for a walk after Houser had thrown three balls. Later that inning, Suter would give up a dinger to Andrew Knizner, extending their lead to 4-0. The Brewers bullpen would give up RBI singles in the 5th and 6th innings, putting them down 6-0. 

All of the six hurlers the Brewers used Tuesday would allow at least one baserunner, and the Cardinals had at least one runner on base in every single inning.

Brewers Offense Goes Quiet

Miles Mikolas started the game on the bump for St. Louis and would throw three perfect innings until Willy Adames reached base on an infield single in the 4th. The Brewers would give the 29,341 fans in attendance something to cheer about as they loaded the bases in the 4th with a Hunter Renfroe single and a Kolten Wong walk. Keston Hiura struck out swinging to end the threat. 

The Brewers would eventually get themselves on the scoreboard with a towering Rowdy Tellez homer in the 6th – his 34th of the year. The Brewers would add another run in the 7th after Hiura scored off a Garrett Mitchell infield single after some confusion between Goldschmidt and pitcher Andre Pallante about who was supposed to cover first base. The game would end with a 6-2 loss of the Crew as the Cardinals clinched the NL Central title – the first since 2019.

Still Hope

While the Brewers lost Tuesday, they did not lose ground in the Wild Card race as the Cubs would do the Brewers a favor and beat the Phillies. The Milwaukee Brewers still sit 1.5 games out of the Wild Card spot. They wrap up their season series against the Cardinals Wednesday night with Jose Quintana and Brandon Woodruff as the expected starters.