Do the Brewers or Cardinals Have a Better Chance to Reach the 2019 World Series? Sportsbooks Split on Milwaukee and St. Louis’ NL Pennant Odds

• The Dodgers and Braves are currently favorites for the NL Pennant
• Depending where you look, the Cardinals and Brewers are jockeying for position
• Are either worth betting as a World Series long shot?

When you look at the race for the NL Pennant, you could argue that it’s the Dodgers, and then everyone else.

LA has an NL-best 64 wins entering Friday’s action. The Braves (58) and Cubs (52) are second and third.

With the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals lumped into a loaded middle class, it becomes a wait-and-see approach to see who breaks free.

Could one of the contenders from the NL Central offer good value?

NL Pennant Odds

*Odds taken 07/19/2019

Both have bounced back and forth among the favorites on our NL Pennant Odds tracker. The Brewers haven’t been the favorite within the NL Central since April 22. The Cards? May 6.

The season series between these two has been split down the middle. Through 10 meetings, each team has won five. The Brewers have scored 50 runs, while the Cards have put up 58.

The two sides have three more three-game sets to settle things and potentially pull ahead for good.

Brewers, Cardinals Head-to-Head

*MLB rank in brackets

**Numbers prior to 07/19/2019

When taking a big picture look, the Cards have the better pitching, but the Brewers the better hitting.

And the gaps seem to be tighter pitching-wise than they do offensively.

There is one way the Cardinals can close that gap though, and that’s if Paul Goldschmidt turns his 2019 around.

Stats as of this moment:

Jon Lester: .250/.357/.417 (.336 wOBA, 107 wRC+)

Paul Goldschmidt: .250/.339/.420 (.326 wOBA, 102 wRC+)

Numbers don’t lie.

— Corey Freedman (@corey_cubs) July 14, 2019

St. Louis’ marquee off-season acquisition has not come has advertised. His career .297 average in Arizona has fallen to .248 in his first year with the Cards.

He also averaged 31 homers and 106 RBI per 162 games the first nine years of his career. He’s got 18 homers and just 43 RBI so far.

The 30 home run pace is there, but he’d be lucky to crack 85 RBI at this point.

Brewers, Cardinals Remaining Opponents

When it comes to common opponents, outside of the Cards’ dominance over the Dodgers, neither have run away with a series against the NL’s top dogs.

St. Louis still has a three-game set with the Dodgers coming up, and they need to hope for similar results. That will help them keep pace with the Brewers.

Updated MLB Rumors:
Twins/Yankees/Brewers teams most interested in Bumgarner
Braves/Rays/Astros looking at Boyd
Phillies/Yankees/A's/Cardinals involved on @MStrooo6
Cardinals/Red Sox/Rays interest in Wheeler
Padres/Cubs checking in on Bauer (Indians still undecided on sale)

— IB ? THE GAMBLER (@incarceratedbob) July 19, 2019

The big thing here is the Cards’ remaining games against the Cubs. The Brewers see their NL Central foes a healthy amount between the end of July and middle of August. Seven of St. Louis’ ten games against the Cubs come in their last ten games of the season.

So they could either be playing a Chicago team rounding into form, or one that’s getting rested up for a run at the World Series.

When it comes to the NL Pennant though? This shows that neither will have an easy time with heavy hitters in October.

Who to Bet for the NL Pennant

Between these two, the one with the most staying power is the Brewers. With Christian Yelich primed for another electric stretch run, he should be able to propel them through a tight NL Wild Card race.

The past 365 days have been fairly kind to @ChristianYelich. pic.twitter.com/9wJ1npsCEX

— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) July 18, 2019

From there, if they get out of the one-game playoff, they have the weapons to navigate their way through the Senior Circuit.

So if the big dogs aren’t your thing, you could find some good value with the Brewers and the NL Pennant.

The Pick: Brewers (+1300)