Colorado Rockies vs. St. Louis Cardinals Pick 8/24/19

Colorado Rockies (58-71) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (69-58)
When: 8 p.m., Saturday, August 24
Where: Busch Stadium, St. Louis

Moneyline: COL + 175/STL -190 (YouWager)
Runline: Rockies +1.5/Cards -1.5
Total: 9

Starting Pitchers: Chi Chi Gonzalez (0-4, 5.87 ERA, 1.57 WHIP) vs. Dakota Hudson (12-6, 3.63 ERA, 1.51 WHIP)

Zero for Six

It hasn’t been easy being Chi Chi Gonzalez this season. Not only has he been hit hard more often than not, having given up at least three runs in four of his six appearances this season, but when he has pitched decently and kept the Rockies close enough to have a chance, his teammates have repaid him with virtually no run support, as Colorado has lost by scores of 3-1, 4-2 and 5-3 this year.

Add it up, and it’s easy to see why the Rockies haven’t yet managed to win a game in which Gonzalez has taken part of in this season. With Colorado going well and truly down the tubes as the playoffs fade away, things aren’t likely to get better here.

Road Nightmares

The Colorado Rockies seem to always have trouble on the road because of the difference in playing at elevation in Coors Field as opposed to playing literally anywhere else in the majors. This year is proving that true again, as the Rockies own the second-worst road record in the league at 25-42, ahead of only Miami. The last time the Rockies won a series on the road was June 26, when they took two out of three from San Francisco. Of course, since then, the bottom has completely fallen out for Colorado, which has seen its record plummet from 42-38 after that game to 58-71 after taking two straight losses to the Cardinals.

Showing Consistency

One of the more overlooked parts of having a strong season is to get the job done on a regular basis. For the Cardinals, they’ve done precisely that, and their pitching is one of the biggest reasons for their success. Dakota Hudson was initially supposed to be nothing more than the Cardinals’ fifth starter, but he’s proven himself this season and has shown exactly why St. Louis made him their first selection in 2016. Only twice this year has Hudson given up more than three runs, and both were against quality opposition in Houston and Milwaukee.

Against Colorado, he’s been a mixed bag in his history. As a reliever, he faced the Rockies twice last season, pitching one scoreless inning at home and giving up three runs on the road in one-third of an inning. Of course, that Rockies squad was far stronger than what he’ll face Saturday.

The Historicals

It’s incredible just how one-sided this matchup has really been. Even though St. Louis only wins the season series by a game or two each year, the Cardinals have won the season series every season since 2009. With two games in the books and both of them going to St. Louis, it’s looking like the Cardinals are going to make it a full decade of dominance over the Rockies.

Betting Trends

• The Rockies have dropped four straight to the NL Central.
• The Rockies are 2-8 in their last ten road games against a right-hander.
• The Cardinals have won eight of their past nine home games.
• The Cardinals have won six of Hudson’s past seven outings.
• The under is 6-1 in the Cardinals’ past seven after they scored at least five runs in their previous game.
• The over is 8-2 in the clubs’ past ten meetings.

Weather Report

It’ll be a bit of a chilly night in St. Louis for August, as the teams will meet with temperatures hovering around 66 degrees.

Dan’s pick

Do the Rockies have any reason to keep fighting this season? The year has already fallen apart for Colorado, and they’re well outside the playoff chase at this point. Realistically, the only thing the Rockies have left that is within reach for them this year is finishing at .500, which is doable but a significant dropoff from winning the wild card a year ago.

Conversely, St. Louis has everything to play for. The Cardinals have to stay ahead of the Cubs in the NL Central for two reasons. First, no team is going to want to face Washington and its pitching arsenal in the wild card game. Second, the Cardinals don’t want to find themselves facing the Dodgers in the first round of the playoffs if they land in that game and survive the Nats. A much more plausible path is to try to take out the young Braves, but that only happens if the Cardinals survive the Central, so they need victories.

Given how much more this game and series means to St. Louis, it’s easy to see why the Cardinals are such a huge favorite here. I’ve got to go with St. Louis, and to make some money, I’ll take the Cards on the run line.