Brewers vs. Cardinals Thursday MLB lineups, odds, picks: Christian Yelich, Paul Goldschmidt, Yadier Molina among starters sitting in matinee

Being completely honest, Thursday afternoon's Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals series finale is meaningless as the Brewers are locked into their playoff seeding as the NL Central champions, and the Cardinals had their 17-game winning streak snapped Wednesday and are locked into the NL's second wild-card spot. Thus, a few regulars on both sides are sitting, including former NL MVP Christian Yelich for the Brewers and Paul Goldschmidt and Yadier Molina on the Cards, who are short favorites on the MLB odds. Click here for model picks on 1:15 p.m. ET game. 

Presuming the Atlanta Braves clinch the NL East on Thursday night, and their magic number is one, the Brewers would host Atlanta in Game 1 of the NL Division Series next Friday. St. Louis will either visit the Los Angeles Dodgers or San Francisco Giants – whichever doesn't win the NL West – in the wild-card game next Wednesday.

The former NL MVP Yelich is not having a very good season, batting .247 with nine homers, 50 RBIs and eight steals. Also on the bench is Avisail Garcia, who is hitting .265 with 29 HRs and 85 RBIs. He got Wednesday off, too. If Milwaukee has any carrot the rest of the regular season, it's needing two wins to break the franchise record of 96 set twice. The Brewers are a spectacular 50-27 on the road, setting a team mark for away wins.

It's lefty Brett Anderson (4-9, 4.30) on the mound, and I doubt he's part of the playoff rotation. He is 2-4 with a 3.49 ERA in six career starts vs. St. Louis, including 1-1 with a 4.05 ERA in two this season. Cards star Nolan Arenado, who got Wednesday off but is playing Thursday, is 9-for-20 with two homers career off him.

Anderson catches a major break in that Goldschmidt is out of the lineup because he murders Anderson career, going 12-for-23 with two homers. Goldschmidt (31 HR, 98 RBIs) is two RBIs away from 100 this season and joining Arenado with triple digits. The last Cardinals duo with 30/100 seasons was Albert Pujols and Ryan Ludwick in 2008. Molina, the future Hall of Fame catcher, gets his second straight game off. That will help the Brewers on the basepaths especially. Andrew Knizner gets the call behind the plate.

Lefty JA Happ (9-8, 5.86) pitches for St. Louis. Since coming over in trade from Minnesota, he is 4-2 with a 3.97 ERA in 10 starts. Happ was great in August but is 1-2 with a 6.52 ERA in September. He hasn't faced Milwaukee since 2017.

MLB expert John Bollman backed St. Louis, while I took the Brewers on the runline. We could both win. . 

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