This is a 10* on SD

San Diego enjoyed a real “breakout” 2020 season as they finished the regular season with the 2nd best run differential in all of baseball, trailing only the Dodgers. The Padres scored the third most runs and that’s despite a bit of an offensive slump in September. They have a formidable bullpen and for Game 1, Chris Paddack gets the start. Paddack ran “hot and cold” down the stretch, but does have a 1.07 WHIP at home this year. It’s good that the Padres got to secure home field advantage as they went 20-10 at Petco Park in the regular season including 9-3 as a favorite of -125 to -175. St. Louis is a team that didn’t qualify for the postseason until the final game and was downright mediocre all year. They often struggle to score runs, which should be obvious when you look back and see that they were shut out in two of the last three regular season games. They hit the fewest number of home runs this year (all teams). Kim will toe the rubber for the Cardinals in Game 1 and there’s a lot of pressure on him. The Cards have played 53 games in the last 44 days, including 11 doubleheaders, the latest of which was Friday. They may be a tired ballclub heading into the postseason. We just don’t think they can score enough to win today. Play on SAN DIEGO

AAA