NL Wild Card Game Thread: Cardinals vs Dodgers, 8:10 PM

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, 8:10 PM – TBS
Dodger Stadium – Los Angeles, CA
RHP Adam Wainwright (17-7, 3.05) vs. RHP Max Scherzer (15-4, 2.46)

The St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers finish up the Wild Card tonight. The hottest team in baseball over the last month Cardinals travel to the home of the 106-win Dodgers.

At age 40, Adam Wainwright put together his best regular season since 2014. Waino made 32 starts, going 17-7 with a 3.05 ERA. he surpassed 200 innings pitched for the first time since 2016.

Wainwright has made 28 postseason appearances, making starts in 15 games. Wainwrights pitched one playoff game in 2020, where he allowed six hits and two runs over 3.1 innings. In 2019, Wainwright pitched 16.2 innings in the playoffs, allowing three runs and striking out 19 batters. He is 4-5 with a 2.89 ERA in the postseason.

Opposing Wainwright is 37-year old Max Scherzer. Scherzer might be on his way to another Cy Young win after going 15-4 with a 2.46 ERA for the Dodgers and Washington Nationals. Scherzer has made 11 starts in Dodgers blue, going 7-0 with a 1.98 ERA.

Scherzer pitched in the 2019 playoffs making six appearances on the way toward the Nationals World Series victory. He threw eight innings against the Dodgers in the divisional series, allowing just one run. He then shut out the Cardinals over seven in the NLCS. Scherzer appeared twice in the World Series making starts of five innings, allowing two runs each time.

The Dodgers beat the Cardinals in the season series going 4-3. They outscored them 42-20 across the seven games. The teams last played on Sept. 6-9. Los Angeles won the first two games 5-1 and 7-2. The Cardinals won the final two games of the series 5-4 and 2-1.

Scherzer went eight innings, allowing zero runs, and struck out 13 Cardinals in that Sept. 6 start. Wainwright pitched Sept. 8 going 8.1 innings, allowing four runs and striking out four.

The Dodgers will be without first baseman Max Muncy, who was injured on the final day of the season. Muncy hit .249 and led the Dodgers with 36 home runs and 94 runs batted in. He also led Los Angeles in OBP, SLG, OPS, and BB. In his place is Matt Beaty, batting seventh, who has hit .270 with seven home runs across 204 at-bats.

Former MVP Cody Bellinger is batting eighth and playing center field. The 26-year-old has been one of the worst players in the majors this season batting .165 with a .542 OPS.

The Cardinals are sticking with the same lineup they had in Sunday’s series finale. Tommy Edman is leading off, followed by Paul Goldschmidt and National League Player of the Month for September Tyler O’Neill. Nolan Arenado bats fourth.

O’Neill hit .303/.353/.661 in September, hitting 11 home runs. The only player better than O’Neill was the man hitting in front of him, Goldschmidt. Goldy has refound his MVP form this season and hit .330/.402/.618 post-All-Star break.

The Dodgers and Cardinals last met in the playoffs in the 2014 Division Series. The Cardinals defeated the Dodgers 3-1. Yadier Molina, Justin Turner, Wainwright, Kenley Jansen, and Clayton Kershaw are the only players left from that series.

The action can be seen live on TBs at 8:08 PM.

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