The MLB regular season has come to an end, and with it comes two of the most intriguing Wild Card games in recent memory. The two matchups feature the most storied rivalry in baseball and a team who won the most regular season games ever while failing to win their division.
American League Wild Card
The American League wild card race has been one of the most dramatic of the season in the MLB, with five teams all having a realistic shot at making the two spots with a few weeks to go. A pivotal final seven days saw the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays unable to overhaul the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox to make it to the one game playoff.
The Yankees and Red Sox both finished on 92-70, pipping their division rival Blue Jays to the wild card spots by a single game. The one game shootout will take place at Fenway Park, where the Red Sox boast a 49-32 record. The Yankees are narrow favourites however at 20/23, with Boston in at 21/20.
Nathan Eovaldi will start for Boston, while New York’s big-money signing Garret Cole will pitch for the Yankees. Cole’s recent form may be something of a concern for Yankees fans, as he sports a 7.64 ERA in his last three starts.
The Yankees’ star-studded lineup has more power hitters, but the Red Sox have a better OPS over the season of .777 compared to .731. This game will come down to fine margins and with home advantage and questions over the form of New York’s starting pitching, Boston are taken to edge it.
National League Wild Card
The Los Angeles Dodgers finished the season with a record of 106-56 and yet they still missed out on winning the NL West as the San Francisco Giants went one better at 107-55. That makes LA the team with the best record ever not to win their division and they must dust themselves off for this Wild Card match up with the St Louis Cardinals. The Dodgers are 20/43 to win, while St Louis is 19/10.
The Cards went 92-70 for the season, including a remarkable 17 game winning streak that fired them into contention. St Louis will have veteran Adam Wainwright on the hill for this one game shootout and the 40-year-old has a 2.89 ERA in the postseason.
However, his opposite number will be Max Scherzer, three time Cy Young award winner and owner of a 1.98 ERA since his move to the Dodgers. Los Angeles have also won all 11 of the games that Scherzer has started this season.
Max Muncy looks likely to miss out for the reigning World Series champion Dodgers and that is a big blow, but they are a winning juggernaut with a deep squad and should be able to ride a good start from Scherzer to defeat the Cards here.
*All odds correct at time of writing