Now that St. Louis Cardinals RHP Miles Mikolas has served his five-game suspension for plunking the Chicago Cubs' Ian Happ, the team's fan base keenly awaits his return.

They don't have to wait any longer: Mikolas will take the mound against the Tampa Bay Rays on August 8, per the Cardinals' official website (via SI.com's Sam Connon).

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred suspended Mikolas five games after the latter hit Happ with a pitch on July 27. Happ hit St. Louis catcher Wilson Contreras on the head in his previous at-bat. Mikolas beaned Happ in the lower back area two pitches later.

The umpires convened and threw Mikolas out of the game. Although the Cardinals pitcher didn't comment on hitting Happ, he wanted everybody to know he was going to defend Contreras and his teammates.

“In any circumstance, I've got Wilson's back; he's my catcher. I consider him a really good friend now. Any single one of these guys in this locker room, I go to bat for them 100 percent. That's something we as a team believe in, always having each other's backs. I guess that's what the umpires thought I was doing (purposefully hitting Happ), and it's unfortunate there was no warning or anything,” Mikolas said.

Can Miles Mikolas and the Cardinals get their act together when he returns?

Mikolas dropped his appeal on his suspension and sat out the Cardinals' next five games. His long layoff doesn't bode well heading into the showdown against the Rays on Tuesday. He has an abysmal 10.00 ERA when he takes the mound after six days of rest.

Hopefully, Miles Mikolas' time off the mound gave him valuable time to regain his bearings. The Cardinals are in last place in the NL Central division with a 49-64 win-loss record as of this writing. If they don't get their act together soon, they are in danger of missing the postseason for the first time in five years.