Bet On the MLB – St. Louis Cardinals @ Los Angeles Dodgers

My playoff predictions haven’t started out too well as I was incorrect in both of my wild card games picks. You can see my previous picks here. Tonight is game 1 of the NLDS series between the Cardinals and Dodgers.

2014 NLDS Game 1: St. Louis Cardinals (90-72) @ Los Angeles Dodgers (94-68)

The St. Louis Cardinals come in to this National League Division series after winning the NL Central division title. They won the division by a measly 2 games over the Pirates. The Cardinals finished the season losers of 3 of their last 5 games. In their regular season finale they were victorious 1-0 at Arizona. Reliever Justin Masterson record the win. During the regular season on offense the team was led by multiple players. 1st baseman Matt Adams led the team in batting average (.288) and slugging % (.457). Shortstop Jhonny Peralta led the team in home runs (21). Left-fielder Matt Holliday led the team in rbi’s (90). The pitching staff was led by right-handed starter Adam Wainwright. Wainwright had a 20-9 record with a 2.38 era and 179 strikeouts in 227 innings pitched. He recorded 5 wins in his last 5 starts. He allowed a total of 6 earned runs in the 5 starts.Wainwright is the starting pitcher in today’s game 1. The Los Angeles Dodgers come in to this National League Division series after winning the NL West division title. The Dodgers won the division by 6 games over the Giants. The team closed out the regular season with 5 straight wins. In the 5 games they outscored their opponents 36-17. During the regular season on offense the team was led by 1st baseman Adrian Gonzalez and right-fielder Yusiel Puig. Gonzalez led the team in home runs (27) and rbi’s (116). Puig led the team in batting average (.296), on-base % (.382) and runs (92). The pitching staff was led by left-handed ace Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw had a 21-3 record with a 1.77 era and 239 strikeouts in 198.1 innings pitched. He won his last 7 starts. He only gave up a total of 9 earned runs in the 7 starts. He stuck out 65 batters in the 7 wins. Kershaw is the starting pitcher in today’s game.

The Dodgers were 4-3 versus the Cardinals during the regular season. The Dodgers outscored the Cardinals 25-14 in the 7 games. The Cardinals finished 39-42 on the road this season. The Dodgers finished 45-36 at home this season.

Cardinals vs Dodgers Prediction

This game should be an excellent pitching match-up between Wainwright and Kershaw. It’s hard not to go with the possible NL MVP and Cy Young winner Kershaw leading the Dodgers to a win tonight.

Take the Dodgers -190 (Bovada.lv)