The Major League Baseball playoffs kick off tonight in Washington DC as the Washington Nationals host the Milwaukee Brewers .
The wild card round is a must-win series, where they will match the top-seeded Los Angeles Dodgers, and the winner will advance to the National League Divisional Series.
The Brewers find themselves after a start to September that watched them move out of emptiness into creating the playoffs with a end to the year in the card. The Brewers came so close to catching the St. Louis Cardinals for the National League Central Division title but came up just two games short as they finished up the regular season by dropping three consecutive matches into the afterward last-place Colorado Rockies.
The Brewers are forced to play without their best player, reigning NL MVP Christian Yelich, as September 10th, when Yelich fouled a ball off his knee, dividing his knee cap and then ending his season. The Brewers were able to remain hot without him before running out of gasoline in Colorado in the regular-season finale.
For the Nationals, they looked as though they would have no chance at making the playoffs and started out the year 19-31. Nevertheless, they got healthy and started stringing together wins in the second half and finished the year as the leading wild card providing them home-field benefit .
Starting for the Nationals is Cy Young Award candidate, Max Scherzer (11-7 2.92 ERA) and to the Brewers, it is Brandon Woodruff (11-3 3.62 ERA). The game is placed at seven and a half conducts. The Nationals are -178 home favorites. First pitch is scheduled for 5:08 PM PST in Nationals Park at Washington DC.
Its actually hard to comprehend what happened in September to the Milwaukee Brewers. They had a stretch where they gained eighteen from twenty matches, with many of these games coming after Yelich hit on the IL. They looked poised to pass the St. Louis Cardinals for the division title and advance right to the NLDS. They all had to do was to win the series at Colorado from the Rockies whod lost six out of their past eight matches.
And they went to Colorado and laid an egg, losing all three games. Not only did they kill all of the momentum that they had previously in the month off, face what is probably the best pitcher in the league in Max Scherzer and they have to move to Washington tonight. And when they find a way to conquer Mad Max and the Nationals, they then have to try and prevent a Dodgers team which was to two straight World Series and are favored to make it three in a row.
The Brewers will ship the very best they have to the mound tonight in the kind of Brandon Woodruff. Woodruff was with a strong season before he went down with a knee injury in July. He missed a few weeks of activity and didnt come back to the group until mid-September. He has made two appearances and has pitched just four joint innings. They were clearly taking things slowly with Woodruff, also he has looked good in limited action since he has not allowed a hit run in his four innings of work.
Woodruff faced his season and had a strong outing. Woodruff tossed six innings of all both one-run chunk against Washington, allowing four hits and picking up the win due to his attempts. He has pitched six innings or twenty five times this season while Woodruff has proven the capability to get deep into matches, it is possible to expect the Brewers to maintain him to the tightest of leashes tonight. Milwaukee is fast to visit the bullpen, and they will do that tonight in the first indication of trouble.
Max Scherzer missed a couple of weeks in July and has been just OK because returning. He had been the Cy Young candidate in the NL when he went down with an injury. But since returning, hes a very average 2-2 with a 4.81 ERA. He has allowed nine home runs from his final forty-three innings after allowing just nine home runs in his first one hundred and twenty-nine plus a third innings.
In his lone start against the Brewers this season, gave up one earned run Scherzer pitched six innings and struck out ten. The Nationals have an bullpen, and I would anticipate that Washington will ride Mad Max as far as he will take them and may even turn the game over if he gets in to trouble.
I enjoy the Nationals. They are big favorites, and I believe Max Scherzer will be good tonight. Contrary to Woodruff, that will not be from the match by the time the inning comes around, you are able to pencil Scherzer in for seven-plus innings tonight. Even with his current battles, guys at a epic pace has been striking . He has forty-three strikeouts in two-thirds of an inning pitched in September and just twenty-nine.
Betting playoff baseball can be hard. The numbers to the favorites back are generally steep, and thats because the top teams find a way to win if it really matters. Thus, you either have the choice of laying timber than you would like to take a shot onto a large underdog that probably wont come through. I will lay that timber.
In case youve been reading my gambling column all season long, you know that I prefer to locate underdogs to rear. Its no problem to locate an undervalued underdog that provides a lot of value when there are thirteen to fifteen games on the schedule. The worth talk goes off, and there is but one game, and it boils down to who do you think will win the game. And tonight, I always sense that the Nationals would be the side. I will lay a bit more than Id enjoy, but know Im on the side tonight. Give me the Washington Nationals as home favorites.
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