St. Louis Cardinals vs Colorado Rockies Prediction: Cardinals to establish the lead

The St. Louis Cardinals will host Colorado, perhaps the darkest horse of the upcoming MLB playoffs. Let's pick a few bets on the first game of this series.  

Before the home games with Colorado, Oliver Marmol's team hosted Milwaukee, their main rival in the National League Central Division, and managed to beat the Brewers in 2 games of their three, 3-1, 2-3, 6-3. That puts St. Louis back in the division lead, and 1.5 wins ahead of Milwaukee.

Pittsburgh rookie Jose Quintana will pitch for St. Louis in the first game of the home series, 4-5, with a 3.37 ERA in 22 starts this season.

Last season, the Rockies also beat St. Louis on their home field 2-1, but couldn't handle the Cards at Busch Stadium, losing 3 of 4 games. How will it go this time? Colorado remains strictly a home team. The Rockies are 18-36 on the road in the current league, the worst record in the National League.

Kyle Freeland will pitch for Colorado in the first game of the series with St. Louis, 7-8, and has a 4.84 ERA in 22 starts this season.

The score in the season series is 2-1 in favor of Colorado.

The Cardinals beat the Rockies four out of seven games last season.

St. Louis is undoubtedly inspired by their series success against Milwaukee, which allowed the Cards to regain the lead in the group. St. Louis cannot afford to squander their series lead against underdog Colorado. In a Cardinals uniform, Jose Quintana has already beaten the Rockies without missing a beat on their field in Denver. And with Colorado's batters hitting much worse on the road than at home, Quintana has a good chance of upsetting them for the second straight time.

Prediction: a convincing victory for St. Louis.

Betting options:

• H1 (-1.5) for 1.96;
• W1 by 4+ Runs for 3.40;
• Colorado Runs TU (0.5) for 7.25.

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