The St. Louis Cardinals are losing ground in the National League Central. Do they have what it takes to prove the online sportsbooks, who peg them at around +1100 to win the division, and most pundits wrong and win the division?
The Chicago Cubs are flying this year and aren’t showing any signs of slowing down. It’s more likely that the Cardinals will be vying for a wild card berth against the New York Mets, Miami Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers for the two available spots.
The Cardinals have quality throughout their lineup and have found their way to the World Series in previous years, even when pundits counted them out. The wild card race in the National League is going to be as tough as it has ever been, even with the addition of the extra playoff berth.
The key to the Cardinal’s success will be their record against teams outside their division. The Cards also need to start playing better at home, which starts with scoring more runs.
St. Louis is playing .500 baseball against divisional opponents. Again, this record must improve drastically for the Cards to have any hope of obtaining one of the coveted wild card spots, let alone trying to challenge for the division crown.
Only 4.5 games separate top from bottom in the wild card race. One advantage the Cards have over their rivals is their balanced batting attack. The Cardinals, besides Miami, who have six players hitting above .300, are head and shoulders above their rivals at the plate.
The big question mark for the Cardinals is their pitching and we all know how important consistency in this area is. Each team in the race has at least one legitimate ace, but unfortunately for the Cardinals, Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha aren’t exactly living up to their end of the bargain.
Last year, Wacha went 17-7 in 30 starts. He has already matched that loss total in 14 appearances this year while Wainwright, at 34 years old, has struggled to regain his form since returning from an 2015 achilles injury which restricted him to only four starts in that campaign.
The Cardinals play in arguably the toughest division in the league and need their top pitchers to play at an elite level. As long as Wacha and Wainwright turn their season around, St. Louis will have enough to snatch a wild card berth.
But can they defy the sportsbooks and put a run together to challenge for the division crown? Let’s hope so as we all know what the Cards can do once they play to their full potential.
Have a look at the full Cardinals schedule, find out the betting lines for every game and heed some tips on how to help you make more money from your Cards bets.
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