Los Angeles Dodgers vs St. Louis Cardinals MLB NL Wild Card Picks, Odds, Predictions 10/6/2021
St. Louis Cardinals (90-72) vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (106-56)
October 6, 2021 8:10 pm EDT
The Line: Los Angeles Dodgers -210 / St. Louis Cardinals +190; Over/Under: -7.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers meet Wednesday in MLB Wild Card Game action from Dodger Stadium. The Cardinals are coming off a weekend series versus the Cubs to finish off the regular season. St. Louis lost two of the three games in that set. As for the Dodgers, they played the Brewers in their last series. LA managed a sweep in that matchup. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
St. Louis rode an epic stretch of wins into last week and took two of three games from the Brewers. The Cardinals played the Cubs in their most recent series, bagging a 4-3 win Friday before losses 6-5 Saturday and 3-2 in the Sunday game. St. Louis would finish the regular season at 90-72 and in second place in the NL Central.
For the starting role in Wednesday’s Wild Card Game, the Cardinals will send out Adam Wainwright. In his 206.1 innings this year Wainwright has 168 hits, 72 runs (70 earned), 21 homers allowed, 50 walks, 174 Ks and a 3.05 ERA.
Over on the Dodgers’ side, they posted a sweep versus the Brewers last weekend, winning 8-6 Friday, 8-3 Saturday and 10-3 in the Sunday finale. Los Angeles nearly caught the Giants in the NL West standings, finishing just one game back at 106-56 overall. The Dodgers have won nine of their last 10 outings.
Starting pitcher for LA on Wednesday will be Max Scherzer. This year in 22 games (18 starts), Scherzer is 7-5 with a 3.38 ERA and 137 Ks in 112.0 innings of work.
The Cardinals are 4-0 in their last four after an off day and 5-0 in their last five versus the NL West. St. Louis is 22-5 in their last 27 road games and 11-1 in their last 12 as an underdog.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers are 8-2 in their last 10 Wednesday games and 4-1 in their last five playoff home games. LA is 7-2 in their last nine playoff games and 40-13 in their last 53 at home.
PICK: I’m going to take a stab on St. Louis. Scherzer has been spotty over his last two games, giving up 10 earned runs on 17 hits, three homers and a walk over 10.1 frames. Prior to that however, Scherzer had a scoreless streak of 36.2 innings going (with one unearned run mixed in there). As for Wainwright, he had a sketchy game against the Brewers (five earned; 4.0 innings) but otherwise has two or fewer earned runs in three of his last four. The Cardinals are going to need to get the bats going early, but I think they’re worth trying here.
