Pitchers Duel in Game One

The St. Louis Cardinals host the Philadelphia Phillies for game one of their NL Wild Card matchup. This game will be played at Busch Stadium on Friday, October 7th at 2:07 pm. These two teams are capable of making a deep run in this postseason so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top. The Cardinals head into this one with a home record of 53-28 and the Phillies have a road record of 40-41. It is important to note that these two matched up in the regular season and the Phillies lead the series 4-3. The odds for this game are currently -110 Phillies, -110 Cardinals, and the over/under is set at 7 according to Caesars Casino & Sportsbook. New users will receive a Risk-Free Bet of up to $1250 on their first wager. When you make your first bet, if it loses, it’s on the house as Caesars will refund any losing wagers in full (up to $1250 in the form of a single-use bonus credit Plus Caesar’s is adding 1,000 Reward Credits and 1,000 Tier Credits). You must make a deposit to get the bonus! Click the link to sign up or use Promo OSBETFULL. Claim your bonus here!

The Philadelphia Phillies ended the season with a record of 87-75. Over their last 10 games however, they are 4-6 and ended the season on a 2-game losing streak. They will send out Zach Wheeler for them on the mound. On the season, Wheeler is 12-7 with an ERA of 2.82 and a WHIP of 1.04. Wheeler has pitched twice against the Cardinals this season and the Phillies are 2-0 in those games. He pitched 14 innings and allowed no runs while striking out 10 batters. On the season the Phillies ranked 8th in batting average with a .253 and 9th in hits with 1,392. They have 7 players who recorded over 100 hits on the season. The Phillies will need Wheeler to continue to find success in this game for them to win. 

The St. Louis Cardinals, on the other hand, ended the season 93-69. Over their last 10 games, they are also 4-6 and ended the season on a loss. They will send Jose Quintana out on the mound for them in this game. On the season, Quintana is 6-7 with an ERA of 2.93 and a WHIP of 1.21. Quintana was on the Pirates earlier this season when he pitched against the Phillies. He was in for 5.2 innings and only allowed 4 hits and no runs. The Cardinals will need him to have a similar performance in this game as they have struggled against Wheeler in the past. The Cardinals, like the Phillies, are a solid hitting team. They rank 10th in both batting average and hits in the league with a .252 and 1,386, respectively. Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado are the Cardinals best hitters. On the season, Goldschmidt recorded 178 hits with an average of .317 while Arenado recorded 163 hits with an average of .293. Goldschmidt leads the Cardinals in every major hitting category and he has 115 RBIs on the season. 

This game will feature two pitchers who are great at limiting the amount of runs allowed. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Wheeler has punished them twice already this season. We like his chances to strikeout 5 Cardinals batters in this game as he recorded 5 in each of his starts this season. 

For our expert pick, the over on Zach Wheeler 4.5 strikeouts.