Pirates may wreck Cards’ postseason plans
The Cardinals are surely suppressing Pittsburgh in their final series of the regular season. Unfortunately for the Gateway City, that alone won’t be enough to ensure a playoff berth.
Mike Matheny’s crew must complete a sweep of the Pirates today – and have the Giants succumb to the Dodgers – in order to force a Game 163 tomorrow evening. If anything goes awry, St. Louis will merely stand by as the annual October drama unfolds. That last happened in 2010, when Tony La Russa still piloted the organization.
Of course, the Redbirds’ first order of business consists of vanquishing Clint Hurdle’s troops this afternoon. Handicappers at online sports book Bovada.lv trust the hosts to make that a reality. Conversely, the Buccos enter Busch Stadium as +185 underdogs. The over/under run figure rests at 8.5.
Adam Wainwright (13-9, 4.67 ERA) could salvage a largely frustrating campaign by coming through with a vintage outing shortly. He’s 2-1 vs. Pittsburgh this year, prevailing 5-1 on July 7 and 12-6 at PNC Park on Sept. 5. Most recently, however, the Reds tagged Wainwright for 10 hits and five runs in 5 2/3 frames.
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Hurdle’s injury-riddled rotation submits Ryan Vogelsong, he of the 3-7 record in 23 career assignments against the Cards. The veteran righty took a 6-4 defeat several nights ago, as the Cubs reached him for four runs in five innings.
We’ll give Wainwright the benefit of the doubt here. Unfortunately for St. Louis, it squandered entirely too many chances during the first 161 contests. Look for San Francisco to clinch the National League’s second wild-card spot without resorting to a tiebreaker.
SUNDAY MLB FREE PICK: CARDINALS -1.5