The Philadelphia Phillies (1-0) and St. Louis Cardinals (0-1) play Game 2 of an NL Wild Card Series Friday at Busch Stadium. First pitch is slated for 8:37 p.m. ET.
Series: Phillies lead 1-0 after a come-from-behind 6-3 win Friday.
Phillies ace Zack Wheeler was fantastic in his first playoff start. He allowed 2 hits and struck out 4 over 6 1/3 scoreless IP. The bullpen gave up 3 runs after he exited which will be something to watch Saturday.
The Phils entered the 9th inning down 2-0 Friday and they plated 6 runs. Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley who finished the 8th inning lost feeling in his injured finger in the 9th. He allowed a hit 2 walks and then hit a batter to force in a run. It was all downhill from there for STL.
St. Louis only had 2 hits from starters hitting 1-8 Friday. That will have to change if they hope to avoid being swept. Philadelphia has another great hurler throwing today – so strap in!
Phillies at Cardinals projected starters
RHP Aaron Nola vs. RHP Miles Mikolas
Nola (11-13 3.25 ERA) logged a 0.96 WHIP 1.3 BB/9 and 10.3 K/9 through 205 IP across 32 starts in the regular season.
- Logged a 2.60 ERA 0.90 WHIP over his last 5 starts of the regular season
- Posted a 3.00 ERA on the road
- Has held current Cardinals batters to a whiff-heavy .672 OPS
Mikolas (12-13 3.29 ERA) has also made 32 starts. He has registered a 1.03 WHIP 1.7 BB/9 and 6.8 K/9 through 202 1/3 IP.
- Notched a 1.20 ERA 0.87 WHIP in his last 3 regular-season starts
- Notched a 2.38 ERA 0.83 WHIP at home
Phillies at Cardinals odds
- Moneyline: Phillies -125 (bet $125 to win $100) | Cardinals +102 (bet $100 to win $102)
- Run line (RL)/Against the spread (ATS): Phillies -1.5 (+140) | Cardinals +1.5 (-180)
- Over/Under (O/U): 6.5 (O: -115 | U: -105)
Phillies at Cardinals picks and predictions
Prediction
Phillies 4 Cardinals 3
Moneyline
The Phillies come out of the more competitive NL East and are the likable side for the series overall from a team standpoint.
Nola gives the Phils a great chance to close out this set Saturday. His stuff is for real and he’s missing a ton of bats of late.
Mikolas has perhaps been a bit lucky in some high-leverage situations and that has kept his ERA artificially a little low. For example with runners in scoring position the Redbirds righty has held foes to a .235 batting average. But built into that is a .223 average on balls in play. He has had an easy schedule down the stretch. Saturday’s turn could serve as a rude wake-up call.
TAKE PHILADELPHIA (-125).
Run line/Against the spread
With the low total and the Cards getting last licks PASS on the more-juice-infused RL action. Philadelphia -1.5 +150 or more would change the calculus and make the Phils worth a partial-unit look. If you’re looking for a secondary wager and are on board with the Phils the PHILLIES OVER 3.5 TOTAL RUNS (+105) has a decent return.
Over/Under
There are no strong enough indicators or separators between real and expected production/prevention numbers to initiate action PASS.