Analysis:St. Louis Cardinals (Garcia) (-120) at Miami Marlins (Latos) 7:10 ET
The St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins play the 2nd of their 3-game, early week set at Marlins Park tonight with the first pitch scheduled for 7:10 ET. Last night, the Marlins built an early 3-0 lead against St. Louis and C. Martinez. But, the Cards battled back to score the winning run in the 8th inning, a time when they could have actually blown the game wide open with the bases loaded and less than 2 outs. Nonetheless, the victory solidifies the Cards as the best team in MLB with a record of 46-24. That is a full 6 games better than Pittsburgh, the 2nd best team in the National League and 5 games better than KC, who has the best record in the American League at 40-28. At the other end of the spectrum is a Miami Marlins team who at 30-42 has the 3rd worst record in all of MLB, better only than Philly and Milwaukee.
Suffering from multiple injuries to the starting rotation, Miami has struggled to reach their potential all season. It has resulted in the Marlins being a streaky team. Their runs this season have been 3-11, 12-3, 5-15, 9-5, and currently 1-5 in which they have plated only 15 runs. Getting today’s starter, Latos, to bolster their rotation, looked to be a positive acquisition. But after 11 starts, Latos has a 5.37 ERA with a 1.54 WHIP. Prior to a home outing against Colorado in which he allowed just 1 run in 7 IP, Latos had a 10.18 ERA in 6 starts from this mound. His 1.64 home WHIP is a dominant PLAY AGAINST figure.
St. Louis has battled through their own injuries, including the loss of starting pitchers, Wainwright and Lynn, to become the best team in MLB. Even with off-field distractions, such as the hacking allegations, the Cards continue on an upward trend of 19-8. An often injured, Jaime Garcia, made only 14 starts the previous 2 years. His work this season, since rejoining the rotation, has surpassed expectations. In 6 starts, Garcia has a 1.76 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP. Garcia enters today’s action on a string of 14 scoreless innings.
Maybe this looks way too easy to lay a short price on the road with the best team in baseball against the 3rd worst! The Garcia vs. Latos matchup looks like gravy.
Pick Made: Jun 24 2015 8:59AM PST