The St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers will battle it out Wednesday to determine who will advance on to the divisional round of the 2021 MLB postseason to face the San Francisco Giants. Fans can watch the game live at 7 p.m. on TBS. First pitch is set for 7:10. with the pregame show starting at 6 p.m., both exclusively on TBS. 

Pitching Matchups 

The Cardinals’ pitching rotation has been pretty shaky this season, but someone who hasn’t been shaky this season is the veteran starter, Adam Wainwright. Wainwright has a 3.05 ERA (Earned Runs Average), 3.7 WAR (Wins Above Replacement), and 17 wins. The Cardinals relief pitchers include Luis Garcia (3.24 ERA), Alex Reyes (3.24 ERA), T.J. McFarland (2.56 ERA), and Andrew Miller (4.75 ERA). The Cardinal’s closing pitcher is Giovanny Gallegos (3.02 ERA). 

The Dodgers pitching situation is the exact opposite of the Cardinals. The Dodgers have dominated the mound all season, especially with the newly added Max Scherzer. Scherzer has a 2.46 ERA, a 2.7 WAR, and 15 wins this season. The Dodgers relief pitchers include Blake Treinen (1.99 ERA), Alex Vesia (2.25 ERA), Joe Kelly (2.86 ERA), Corey Knebel (2.45 ERA), and David Price (4.03 ERA). The Dodgers closing pitcher is Kenley Jansen (2.22 ERA).

Advantages and Disadvantages 

The Cardinals have a lot of advantages and disadvantages going into this game. One advantage is that they have the legendary duo of Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright. Another advantage is that the Cardinals recently came off of a 17-game winning streak which produced major breakthroughs in different players’ performances which include Lars Nootbaar, Tyler O’Neill, and Harrison Bader.

But the Cardinals also have some disadvantages. One disadvantage is that the Cardinals do not have the best pitching rotation. As seen on the “pitching matchups” section, only one Cardinals reliever (T.J. McFarland) has an ERA below 3.00. Another disadvantage for the Cardinals is that they don’t have much playoff experience.

Most players on the Cardinals have little to no playoff experience. All starting position players on the Cardinals have a combined 165 postseason games played and if you compare that to the Dodgers, their position players have a combined 325 games played. So the Cardinals definitely need to keep these things in mind going into the wild card game. 

The Dodgers also have a lot of advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that they have really good postseason experience. In the paragraph above, you can see that the Dodgers have 325 combined postseason games played for position players. Another advantage that the Dodgers have going into this Wild Card game is just the amount of sheer talent they have on their roster. With aces such as Max Scherzer and Walker Buehler, and all-star position players like Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger, and Corey Seager. Now, let’s get to the disadvantages.

One disadvantage is that Max Muncy, the Dodger’s all-star first baseman, is injured, with his left elbow in pain. Another disadvantage for the Dodgers is that they have a losing history against the Cardinals in the postseason. 

No matter what team you’re rooting for in this NL Wild Card, we can all agree that this is going to be a great game. So grab your peanuts and cracker jacks, and let’s watch some baseball.