St Louis Cardinals vs Los Angeles Dodgers 10/06/2021 MLB Odds, Preview, and Pick

The St. Louis Cardinals make the trip to Dodger Stadium to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Wild Card game on Wednesday night.

St. Louis streaked towards the end of the regular season to secure the second wild-card spot in the NL with their 90-72 record. On the other hand, the Dodgers finished with the league’s second best-record but because they ended up one game behind the San Francisco Giants in the NL West, they are headed to the wild card game despite an impressive 106-56 record.

The Dodgers won their regular-season series 4 games to 3 but the Cardinals won the most recent two outings between these two clubs.

St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals will start the rejuvenated and ageless Adam Wainwright for this win-or-go-home game. Wainwright started 32 games this season and posted a record of 17-7 with an ERA of 3.05 and a WHIP of 1.06. Wainwright struck out 174 hitters this season while walking 50. Wainwright has allowed two or fewer runs in 20 of his 32 appearances this season.

Nolan Arenado led the Cardinals with 34 home runs and 105 RBI. Paul Goldschmidt had the best batting average on the team at .294 while also hitting 31 home runs and 99 RBI. Meanwhile, Tyler O’Neill also had 34 home runs and 80 RBI for the Cardinals while Paul De Jong added 19 homers.

St. Louis ranked 12th in ERA at 3.98 and 17th in WHIP at 1.30. They were also 8th in BAA at .234. The Cardinals’ batting average of .244 ranked 13th in the league while their OBP of .313 was 19th overall in the majors.

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers Cy-Young candidate Max Scherzer is on the mound for this wild card game. Scherzer heads to this game with a record of 15-4 in 30 starts with an ERA of 2.46 and a WHIP of 0.86. Scherzer struck out a total of 236 hitters while walking just 36. He pitched in a total of 14 innings against the Cardinals this season and did not allow a single run.

Max Muncy leads the Dodgers with 36 home runs and 94 RBI on the season. Justin Turner had the best batting average in the team at .278 while also hitting 27 home runs and driving in 87 runs. Will Smith had 25 homers and 76 RBI while Mookie Betts had 23 home runs and AJ Pollock 69 RBI.

The Dodgers scored a total of 830 runs on the season, 4th most in the league. They ranked 11th in batting average at .244 and were 5th in OBP at .330 and 7th in SLG at .429. Their pitching staff ranked first in the league with an ERA of 3.01 and they were also no. 1 in WHIP at 1.10 and BAA at .207.

Who Wins?

The Cardinals are 35-16 in their last 51 games played overall. St. Louis is 22-5 in their last 27 road games, 13-3 in their last 16 games against an opponent with a winning record, 11-1 in their last 12 games as betting underdogs, 5-0 in their last five games against the NL West, 4-0 in their last four games after an off day, and 17-4 in their last 21 games against a right-handed starter.

The Dodgers are 41-11 in their last 52 games played overall. Los Angeles is 40-13 in their last 53 games played at home, 37-15 in their last 52 games against the National League Central, 43-18 in their last 61 games after a win, 45-19 in their last 64 games after an off day, 36-16 in their last 52 games against an opponent with a winning record, and 43-20 in their last 63 games against a right-handed starter.

Make no mistake, Wainwright is a solid pitcher who had a solid year. He finished the season with a record of 17-7 with an ERA of 3.05 and a WHIP of 1.06. Wainwright has gone seven or more innings 16 times and has allowed two or fewer runs in 20 starts.

The Cardinals also enter this game red-hot with 17 wins in their last 20 games and 11 consecutive wins on the road. However, st. Louis will be facing their bogeyman on the other side. Max Scherzer has pitched twice against the Cardinals this season and has not given up a run in 14 total innings.

The Dodgers finished with the second-best record in the league and are only in the Wild Card game because they finished one game behind the Giants in their division. I mean, this isn’t your regular wild card team. These are the odds on favorite to repeat as World Series champions.

Something has to give here. It’s either the Cardinals’ red hot streak or Scherzer’s dominance against St. Louis. I have more faith in the tried and tested Scherzer over the Cardinals.

Prediction: Los Angeles Dodgers

Other Bets to Make

The total has gone under in four out of the last five games played by the Cardinals. The under is also 4-1 in their last five games against the National League, 4-1 in their last five games played on grass, 15-5 in their last Game 1 of a series, and 22-7 in their last 29 road games when the total is set between 7.0-8.5.

The total has gone under in 12 out of the Dodgers’ last 13 games following an off day. The under is 5-1-1 in their last seven games when the total is set between 7.0 to 8.5, 21-7 in their last 28 Game 1 of a series, 19-7-2 in their last 26 playoff games played, and 20-9-2 in their last 31 games against a right-handed starter.

Head to head, the under is 39-19-1 in the last 58 meetings between these two teams. The total has gone under in seven out of their last nine meetings in Los Angeles.

Max Scherzer has been spectacular in his head-to-head meetings with St. Louis this season. Scherzer has pitched 14 scoreless innings in two games against the Cardinals this season and it’s hard to imagine St. Louis putting up a lot of runs here, if at all.

The Los Angeles pitching staff has allowed its opponents to average only 6.83 hits and 3.46 runs per game this season and it’s going to be harder to beat these Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

But the Cardinals won’t go down without a fight and the ageless Wainwright is going to do his share in limiting this explosive Los Angeles offense. I think he will have some success, but not as much as Scherzer. In the end, Los Angeles wins a relatively low-scoring game.

Prediction: Under 7.5

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