Betting Overview It all comes down to this for the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals are either trying to catch the Milwaukee Brewers for the NL Central pennant or the Atlanta Braves for the NL wild card. Right now, it looks like the Cardinals have a better chance at catching the Brewers than the Braves. But, these head-to-head games against the Braves could prove to be useful. The Cardinals have had some good success recently against the Brewers, and Milwaukee is having problems winning games. If St. Louis can show some dominance over Atlanta in this coming series then, aside from a three-game series with the Phillies, the Cardinals have a schedule that may allow them to catch Milwaukee if the Brewers keep losing. The Atlanta Braves are having the same problems closing out games late in the season this year as they had last year. The Braves led the NL East for much of the season last year until Philadelphia caught them and won the pennant. This year, the Braves have been trailing Philadelphia all season long and the MLB baseball betting fans in Atlanta are getting nervous as the Braves continue to lose key games late in the season. The magic number for the Phillies is 11 and there is no doubt that Philadelphia will reach that mark before the season is over. Now the Braves have to worry about holding on to the NL wild card berth which it seemed so in control of just a month ago. St. Louis Cardinals The Cardinals need a run of good MLB baseball scores to reach the playoffs, so they give the ball to Jaime Garcia to start this game on the mound. Garcia is 11-7 on the season with a 3.65 ERA. His most recent start was a gem on September 3rd against the Reds when he allowed only one run on seven hits in six innings. But prior to that, Garcia had struggled. He was on a three-game losing streak where he had given up 24 runs in only six games. Atlanta Braves Veteran Derek Lowe starts this game and, lately, Lowe wishes he was out bass fishing instead of pitching. In his last 10 starts, Lowe is 4-6 with a 5.37 ERA. On the positive side, Lowe averaged only two walks per game in that stretch while striking out an average of four batters a night. His most recent start was a September 5th game against Philadelphia where he gave up five runs on eight hits in five innings pitched. Lowe’s arm may not have the strength it had when he was younger and he is not finding ways to compensate for his loss of power by out-thinking hitters. The Bottom Line fans in St. Louis know how desperately the Cardinals need to win this game, and there is a good chance that St. Louis will pull this one out. The Braves may have to go to the bullpen early on this one and that would mean good things for the St. Louis Cardinals. Pick: St. Louis Cardinals
