MLB Betting Preview: St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves

Added on Sep 09, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

MLB

While the main focus of the sports betting world will be on the start of the NFL regular season, there’s a few good baseball opportunities on the board as well. We’ll take a look at a National League game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves. Atlanta avoided a sweep at Pittsburgh on Wednesday in a blowout win, but dropping 2 of 3 to the worst team in baseball wasn’t what they needed in the midst of a pennant race. They enter this contest 1/2 game behind Philadelphia for the NL East lead. St. Louis had a great opportunity to get back in the NL Central hunt, but they’ve not shown much urgency and despite losing four straight games the Cincinnati Reds have remained 6 games ahead.

St. Louis Cardinals (Wainwright) at Atlanta Braves (Jurrjens)
September 9, 2010–4:10 PM Pacific

There’s no place like home, especially for the Atlanta Braves. They get back to Turner Field at just the right time looking to regain the NL East lead. Atlanta is a different team at Turner Field than they are on the road. On the road, the Braves are 31-41 -15 units. at home, Atlanta has one of the best home records in baseball at 49-19 +18.9 units. St. Louis enters this game having lost 7 of 10, and they’ve been an overvalued side in most situations this year. Overall, St. Louis has lost -21.3 units in 2010 and on the road they’re 29-41 -20.7 units.

Adam Wainwright gets the start here for St. Louis, and that’s why they’re favored in this game. He’s got a spiffy 2.34 ERA overall, but on the road its a slightly higher 3.15. Of greater significance is the fact that the Cards have lost 9 of his 15 starts away from the Gateway City. He’s not looked sharp at all in his last three outings, with a 5.29 ERA in three St. Louis losses. Braves go with Jair Jurrjens and, like the rest of the team, he’s a different pitcher at home–overall he’s got a 4.10 ERA but at Turner Field his ERA is nearly 2 full runs lower (2.15) and the Braves have won all 8 of his home starts.

Both teams need a win here, but we like Atlanta to actually take care of business. St. Louis hasn’t shown any real consistency this year, while Atlanta has been a force at Turner Field. The pitching matchup favors the Braves when you consider the home/away form of each, and this is reflected in the entire team. We’re getting the best home team in baseball against an underachieving road team at a pick’em price.

Bet Atlanta Braves (Jurrjens) +100 over St. Louis Cardinals (Wainwright)