NL Central Rivals Cards and Reds Collide at Busch Stadium

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NL Central Rivals Cards and Reds Collide at Busch Stadium

The NL Central is completely up for grabs in the early going and a couple of teams looking to stake a claim for divisional supremacy will go at it on Friday night at Busch Stadium as the St. Louis Cardinals host the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds have set the pace early but as of midweek were only 1 game ahead of four teams tied for second—including the Cardinals. None of the entrants are setting a blistering pace with Cincinnati currently the only NL Central team with a record above .500.

Cincinnati claimed the division crown in 2010 paced by their high octane offense and they’re hitting the ball well so far this season. They currently lead the Major Leagues in runs scored and rank third in team batting average. The Cardinals are also doing well at the place, leading the MLB in team batting average and are just behind the Reds in second place in runs scored. Both teams were expected to put a lot of runners on base this season, so there’s every reason to think that they’ll be able to sustain these numbers as the season progresses.

Pitching, on the other hand, isn’t as strong for either team. The Cardinals aren’t in bad shape in that department as they rank #12 in team ERA with a 3.57 figure. It’s a bigger issue for the Reds even though they’ve been constructed to be a team that wins with offense. Cincinnati currently has the #20 team ERA in baseball with a 4.51 ERA. The starting rotation hasn’t been particularly sharp and the bullpen is also a concern for the Reds—they rank #27 in the Major Leagues with only two saves on the year. A team can get away with a sketchy relief corps at this point in the season but it’s unrealistic to expect a long playoff run without a dependable bullpen.

There’s a very good case to be made for the home team—the Cards were solidly profitable in head to head play against the Reds last season going 12-6 for over six units of profit. Despite that, we’re not sold on St. Louis this season and would rather back the hard hitting Reds—and particularly as an underdog. St. Louis was one of the biggest money losers in baseball overall last season and they’ll face a Cincinnati team that turned a solid profit on the road. We’ll back Cincinnati throughout this series.