NLCS Preview – Giants and Cardinals Turn to Respective Aces for Game One

San Francisco Giants (+113) at St. Louis Cardinals (-123) (6.5 o/u)

There was a rumor going around that the St. Louis Cardinals’ 20-game winner Adam Wainwright is injured.

A few days ago, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny quickly put that conjecture to rest. “I think there were some things taken out of context and blown up probably more than they needed to be when it was a statement of basically the obvious … in case something didn’t look right, feel right. He’s fine and we’ll just watch him closely like we watch everybody else,” said Matheny.

However, Matheny did acknowledge that Wainwright has dealt with injuries this season, stating, “that’s happened at different times throughout our season and he’s been able to bounce back and figure it out and make it work. Not just make it work but being the lead pitcher.”

Wainwright (20-9, 2.38) faces beer-guzzling Giants ace Madison Bumgarner (18-10, 2.98) in what should be a pitchers’ duel.

A low-scoring affair could play perfectly into the hands of the Giants. This October, San Fran has been masterful at late-inning comebacks.

Giants outfielder Gregor Blanco has confidence he and his teammates can get the job done. He said, “This is the game of baseball. Whatever you have to do to win a game is all that matters. Whatever it takes, we just win it. By eight runs. By one run. By an error. By a walk. Whatever it takes to win a game, man. That’s what we do.” That was certainly the case the last time these teams met in the post-season, when the Giants rallied from three games down in the 2012 NLCS en route to their seventh World Series title.

Considering Bumgarner’s (almost) impeccable post-season thus far, taking the Giants’ money line at +115 seems appropriate.