The Milwaukee Brewers get set to meet the Toronto Blue Jays Monday in the first of a three-game inter-league set inside American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They toss out the first pitch at 8:10 pm. The Brewers have played well this season, while the Blue Jays have gotten off to a very rough start, and they are getting no help because they are in a very stacked division. Bookmaker has installed the Blue Jays - 115 on the ML.
The Brewers always have a decent team that competes. They are more than capable of hanging around in the NL Central and are actually leading the division by 6 1/2 games over the second-place Cincinnati Reds.
They have dropped five out of seven overall but are still 11 games over .500 with a 38-27 mark two months into the season.
Milwaukee has a solid lineup, and its hitters have some pop in their bats. They are led on offense by veteran slugging first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who has cracked 10 home runs already after inking a deal with the Brewers in the off-season. He spent his first six seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, where he smashed 148 home runs for them.
The Brewers will toss out 33-year-old veteran hurler Colin Rea, who has a mark of 4-2 and an ERA of 3.53.
The Blue Jays have struggled mightily this season and have already fallen behind in the AL East. They are 13 games back of the New York Yankees, who are trying to run away from the division. Toronto, though, has some work to do. They need to start winning some games, or they will be out of it by July.
That might make them sellers and not buyers at the MLB trading deadline.
Left-fielder Daulton Varsho is having a monster season so far, as he has smacked 10 home runs to pace all players on the team. He has a rough batting average of just .215 on the season, but he is their best power hitter.
They need the heart of their lineup to start hitting and producing runs.
The Blue Jays will send out 30-year-old Jose Berrios, who will take the ball and step on the mound with a record of 5-4 and an ERA of 2.80. Their starting staff has had some issues, and they really need to do a better job of working through jams and really trying to go deeper into games.
They must stop putting pressure on their middle relief and bullpen to try to bail them out in tight, close games.
The Brewers are 2-3 in their last five games and 2-3 in their last five games against the number. They are also 21-15 in their road games against the number. The Blue Jays are 3-2 in their last five games and 2-3 in their last five games against the number. They are also 17-16 in their road games against the number.
