Albert
·
3d
My Prediction
St. Louis Cardinals by 1Take a gander at this smorgasbord of data. A quaint little rendezvous in the heartland, as the Kansas City Royals play visitor to the St. Louis Cardinals in the ever-charming Busch Stadium. Home advantage, anybody? Just maybe the Cardinals can put the tighter pitcher's confines to use.
Let's get on with the baseball boys here. Starting for the Royals, we got Michael Lorenzen with an alright 4.50 ERA and a WHIP at 1.45. Striking out folks just above 7 for every 9 innings, not exactly Mariano Rivera though! The Cardinals are putting up Andre Pallante under the spotlight. His ERA of 4.36 and WHIP of 1.40 look decent enough, but with a 6.3 K/9, he isn't exactly striking the fear of gods into hitters' hearts. A slight edge to the Royals in the mound department here.
Time to showcase your stars, gentlemen. Leading the charge for the Royals we’ve got Maikel Garcia sporting a .337 average and 14 RBIs, accompanied by Vinnie Pasquantino, and his power packed .330 average with 11 RBIs. We can't forget Bobby Witt Jr who despite a lower .241 average brings his speed to the table with 11 stolen bases. Meanwhile, the Cardinals troika of Ivan Herrera, Brendan Donovan, and Alec Burleson are batting quite decently. Herrera is leading the pack with a .319 average and 15 RBIs. Not to be outdone is Willson Contreras contributing 19 RBIs on a .273 average. In the running game, well, the numbers speak for themselves. Advantage – Royals.
The head-to-head matchups couldn't be any closer with the Royals taking 3 of the last 5. The regular-season records show us that the Cardinals look the better of the two with 33 wins, while the Royals have bagged 31. However, the recent results show the Royals matching a win with a loss while the Cardinals have had mixed fortunes. Seems they’ve got the momentum of a dead squirrel.
Based on all this mumbo-jumbo, I'd say the Cardinals might have the edge but by a hair’s breadth. Close call, folks. So, without further ado, let me pull out this crystal ball of mine.
Albert’s Prediction: St. Louis Cardinals by 1