The wild card in the MLB will start on Friday, October 7 with four games on schedule including this National League clash in St. Louis, so make sure you don’t miss on the best Phillies vs. Cardinals betting pick and odds.

Philadelphia and St. Louis will play the first of a best-of-three NLWC series at Busch Stadium, and the Cardinals are -110 moneyline favorites on Bet DSI Sportsbook, while the total is set at 7 runs. These NL rivals have seven six times this season, and the Phillies lead 4-3.

Phillies lost the series to the Astros

The Philadelphia Phillies ended the regular season with an 87-75 record, but they lost the series to the Houston Astros to enter the postseason. Philadelphia scored just five runs in those three games against Houston and lost eight of the previous 12 games overall to end the regular season with an 87-75 record.

Philadelphia recorded just four hits opposite Houston’s 12 in the most recent 3-2 loss to the Houston Astros. Brandon Marsh and Rhys Hoskins recorded RBIs for the Phillies, but they had only four hits opposite Houston’s 12. Michael Plassmeyer took the first loss of his MLB career as he allowed three runs on nine hits with six strikeouts and a walk.

Zack Wheeler (12-7) will get on the mound for the Phillies against the Cardinals on Friday. The 32-year-old right-hander has a rock-solid 2.82 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, and 163/34 K/BB ratio over 153.0 innings.

Cardinals split the series with the Pirates

The St. Louis Cardinals ended the regular season with a 93-69 record, the fourth-best in the National League. They lost the series to the Los Angeles Dodgers and split the next one against the Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates. St. Louis won the opening two games of the series against the Pirates and lost the next two, but in the end, the teams split the series.

The Cards had a 3-0 lead in the 3rd inning, but the Pirates scored five in the 3rd and 4th to take over the lead and maintain it for a 5-3 victory. Tommy Edman and Nolan Arenado contributed with an RBI apiece, but the Cardinals weren’t good offensively and deserved to lose. Matthew Liberatore dropped to a 2-2 record as he surrendered five runs on six hits with three strikeouts and four walks in 5.0 innings.

Jose Quintana (6-7) is starting for the Cardinals in the NLWC series on Friday against the Phillies. The 33-year-old left-hander owns a more than respectable 2.93 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and 137/47 K/BB ratio across 165.2 innings of work.

Trends:

Philadelphia:

  • 4-1 in the last five games with the total set at 7.0-8.5
  • 13-5 in the last 18 games vs. a left-handed starter

St. Louis:

  • 1-7 in the last eight playoff games
  • 1-4 in the last five playoff home games

Philadelphia Phillies vs. St. Louis Cardinals Pick

Both teams failed to impress of late and this NLWC series could go either way. I am giving a slight advantage to the Phillies, who have been solid against southpaws, averaging a .262 BA with 4.74 runs per nine innings. The Cardinals are not great against righties as they are averaging 4.57 runs, but they could still do damage against the Phillies here. Zack Wheeler is a more reliable pitcher than Quintana, and I am backing Zack to take this team to victory here.

Pick: Take the Phillies to win (-110)

The Total

Jose Quintana didn’t allow more than two runs in each of his last 14 starts, which is phenomenal. Wheeler surrendered a run in his previous three starts, and I expect to see a low-scoring affair on Friday. Both pitchers were excellent in this H2H this season and they have a 0.00 ERA in 19.2 innings combined. Under is 6-1 in Quintana’s last seven starts overall; Under is 5-0 in the previous five H2H meetings, while Under is 4-0 in the last four H2H duels in St. Louis.Pick: Go Under 7 runs (-110)