Pirates-Cardinals on ESPN
The St. Louis Cardinals (71-40, +23.02 units) have the best record in baseball by far, both in the MLB standings and from a betting perspective. The second-best team in the National League, on both counts, happens to be the team chasing St. Louis down in the NL Central: the Pittsburgh Pirates (65-44, +12.84 units). They begin a three-game set at Busch Stadium on Tuesday, and Game 2 will be shown Wednesday night (8:00 PM ET) on ESPN. Viewers will be treated to a very special pitching matchup. The Cardinals plan on starting Michael Wacha (3.18 FIP), who has generated 8.88 units in earnings on a team record of 16-5. Only teammate Carlos Martinez (13.37 units) has been more profitable at press time. Pittsburgh will start Gerrit Cole (2.69 FIP), who’s pitched even better than Wacha; the Pirates are 16-6 (+8.02 units) behind their ace. No surprise that the under has been the right choice with either of these pitchers on the mound: 11-9-1 for Wacha, and 12-8-2 for Cole. Scoring will be even harder to come by with Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday (.830 OPS) on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right quad and uncertain to return before the playoffs.