The Washington Nationals are 13-2 over their last 15 games. After winning Game 1 on Friday night, the Nationals are in position to take a stranglehold of the National League Championship Series with another road victory this Saturday over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Sportsbook Odds Analysis
Early action on Washington has moved the line slightly with the Nationals now going off as -143 road favorites over the Cardinals at +133. The total has remained steady at seven runs.
Washington News & Notes
The Nationals could not have asked for a more perfect start to the NLCS than the one they got on Friday night. With closer Daniel Hudson out on paternity leave and Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin all unavailable out of the bullpen as they try to get back on normal rest for this series, Washington needed their fourth starter Anibal Sanchez to go deep in the game. He did exactly that, taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning before handing the ball over to Sean Doolittle for a four-out save in the Nationals’ 2-0 win over St. Louis.
Now Washington will have its three aces on regular rest for the duration of this series and will have a chance to close out the NLCS without returning to St. Louis. The Nationals are 14-3 in the last 17 games that Max Scherzer has started.
St. Louis News & Notes
Washington’s perfect start to the series was St. Louis’ doomsday scenario. The Cardinals offense didn’t force the Nationals bullpen to use up its arms, and Mike Mikolas’s sharp outing of six innings of one-run ball went to waste. Game 2 is now a virtual must-win for the Cardinals, who don’t want to head to Washington for three games down 0-2 in this best-of-seven series.
St. Louis is 13-6 in its last 19 games against Washington. The UNDER is 6-0-1 in the last seven games between these two opponents. Veteran Adam Wainwright pitched 7.2 innings without allowing a run in his last start against the Atlanta Braves, but the Cardinals still lost 3-1. Wainwright owns a 2.79 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP in 96.2 postseason innings pitched.
Betting Pick: Washington -137
The Nationals are red-hot, they’ve got a team of destiny feel to them, and Max Scherzer has looked like his vintage self this postseason. This could be a short series.