Ah, we've got a classic face-off coming up folks, or rather, questionably classic if you look at their recent performances. The Washington Nationals are rolling into St. Louis to take on the Cardinals and boy, do we have a game ahead of us.
Now, it's harder to look away from the stats of Washington Nationals' CJ Abrams with a .340 batting average and 11 RBIs. Oh, and let's not forget James Wood, making his presence felt with a .320 batting average and 23 RBIs. On the other side of the diamond, the Cardinals also have some cards up their sleeves with Yohel Pozo sporting a .346 batting average, and Alec Burleson who sent the ball flying out of the park 6 times already.
The starting pitching sees Gore for the Nationals, who has an impressive 3.15 ERA this season and a deadly 11.5 K/9. Pallante will be on the mound for the Cardinals, carrying a 4.21 ERA and, well let's just say his K/9 of 6.2 isn't exactly terrifying.
One thing I’d like to bring up here is the Park Factor for Busch Stadium, which drums a tune more harmonious for the pitchers - giving a slight advantage to our starting pitchers and making heads turn in their direction.
Historically, the Cardinals have had the Nationals' number in head-to-head matchups, not to mention their solid regular-season record. The Nationals, on the other hand, have been struggling with consistency, reflected in their underwhelming regular-season record.
From a recency standpoint, you'd be forgiven for thinking that both teams seem to have forgotten how to string wins together. I mean, Nationals have been more generous in sharing runs than a charity gospel concert and the Cardinals got whopping defeats recently that even I felt that one.
So, as we look at this upcoming match, weighing the strengths and, let's call them "areas of improvement", of both teams, I'd say...
Albert’s Prediction: St. Louis Cardinals by 2.