The Cardinals skidded into the playoffs struggling while the Padres played well down the stretch. Look for San Diego fans to cheer a Game 1 victory by their Padres when the NLDS starts today.
Today the St. Louis Cardinals will be on the road as they take on the San Diego Padres. We will side with the Padres!
The Padres come into this game playing solid baseball as of late (20-8 in their last 28 games, while being 10-1 in their last 11 games at home in Petco Park), and should be able to beat up a Cardinals team who has been struggling as of late (4-10 in their last 14 games, 3-14 in their last 17 road games).
Not only have the Padres been playing better as of late, but they also send to the mound the better pitcher. The Cardinals will send to the mound Chris Carpenter who has had two terrible back-to-back starts (one of those starts coming against this Padres team), and we don't see anything good coming from Chris Carpenter today.
As for the Padres, they will send to the mound Jake Peavy who has been very solid overall as of late. But his true successes have come when pitching at home. Peavy has had six home starts since August (43.1 IP), while only allowing seven runs on 24 hits. We expect another solid home start from Peavy.
It's also good to note that the Padres have the best bullpen in the NL while the Cardinals have an average/below average bullpen. The Padres have revenge on their mind from last season when the Cardinals swept them in the playoffs, and this time around the Padres have the better talent to beat the Cardinals. Take the Padres!
Pads just saw Carpenter a week ago and scored 6 runs on 12 hits off him at St. Louis. Usually favors the batting lineup seeing the pitcher second time in a short while. I think Peavy is better anyway and the Padres have a big bullpen edge as well.
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