Friday the 13th; unlucky for you or your bookmaker? We are going to try to help push Lady Luck in your direction with our MLB picks for this day.
It's a lovely Friday here in the East and I'm going to try and hand out a
couple winners in today's baseball matchups. Let's see if there are any spots to
take advantage of with our baseball picks.
St. Louis Cardinals (Wainwright) vs. Chicago Cubs
(Samardzija)
Baseball returns to Busch Stadium and Cardinals fans are
ecstatic to officially ring in the new season after the magic that occurred
there last year.
Over the past three seasons Wainwright has been magical at
Busch. He's 19-10 with a 1.92 ERA, while striking out 229 and walking just 59.
Opponent hitters have batted just .219 against him in that span.
Moreover, Wainwright has pitched well against the Cubs,
going 5-1 with a 2.65 ERA in eight starts over the previous three seasons. The
occasion will be big, but if anyone can handle such an atmosphere it's
Wainwright.
It helps that he'll have a rocking offense behind him every
step of the way. The Cardinals are first in the National League in practically
every offensive category, including hits (75), homers (12), RBI (37) and team
batting average (.301).
David Freese leads the NL with a .429 batting average,
Carlos Beltran already has three homers on the year and Lance Berkman, Rafael
Furcal, Yadier Molina and John Jay are all batting over .300 too. Berkman is
likely to miss this weekend's games because of a calf rain, but it shouldn't
matter. I'm expecting a big St Louis Cardinals win today.
PICK: St. Louis Cardinals -1.5 (+115)
Atlanta Braves (Jurrjens) vs. Milwaukee Brewers (Wolf)
My next free pick is on another home favorite, this time on the
Braves. They begin a three-game series with the Brewers.
Atlanta has Jarr Jurrjens on the mound today, and though he
failed to impress in his first start he's still a highly effective pitcher.
Jurrjens went 13-6 with a 2.96 ERA last season
and picked up a win (7.2 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 5 SO) in his only meeting against
Milwaukee.
Brewers pitcher Randy Wolf may have plenty of experience,
but he had a hard time establishing himself on the road last season. He was 6-7
with a 3.81 ERA away from Miller Park.
Today I think he'll struggle against the Braves. Over the
last few seasons Wolf has gone 1-1 with a 4.74 ERA in three starts against
Atlanta.
The great news for the Braves is Chipper Jones has come off
the disabled list, making an immediate impact. He has four hits in his two
games (both Atlanta victories) since returning and already has a home-run to boot.
With Chipper back in the heart of the lineup, the Braves are
back to being very dangerous in the middle of their order, with Freddie
Freeman, Dan Uggla and Jason Heyward all possessing quite a bit of pop as well.
I think they'll get after Wolf today, leading to an Atlanta win.
PICK: Atlanta Braves at -120 on the MLB odds board