The Milwaukee Brewers (16-32 SU, -15.36 Units) have already been beaten four times in six games this season by the St. Louis Cardinals (31-16 SU, +13.48 Units).
It'll be a huge uphill battle to try to break that hex on Monday in the first game of a three-game set at Busch Stadium.
PITCHING MATCHUP
Jaime Garcia was once a crucial cog in the St. Louis rotation, but at this point, he really is just a back of the rotation type of guy whom the team hopes doesn't prove to be too costly.
Garcia has only made a total of 18 big league appearances in his last three seasons thanks to injuries, but if he can continue to pitch as well as he did in his first two outings of this year, he might be onto something.
Remember that the Milwaukee bats have been silent of late (more on that in a second), so replicating six innings and three earned runs allowed as he had against the Diamondbacks in his last start isn't out of the question.
Matt Garza is 2-7 on the season with a 6.00 ERA, and there is no doubt that he is nowhere near the man that was the MVP of the ALCS seven years ago.
Still, there are some bad luck issues here for Garza as well that probably can't continue. This is a man who has watched a stunning 18.2 percent of his fly balls allowed turn into home runs this year. Batters are also hitting .303 against him in balls put in play, a far cry from his .286 career average.
That said, the Cards love taking advantage of pitchers like this who aren't big strikeout guys and pitch more to contact, so this might not be the game to count on Garza's return to form for live betting purposes.
ADVANCED STATS
You don't realize just how bad the Brewers have been at the plate of late until you really take a deeper look at it. The team has scored a total of just 11 runs in its last five games, and it has one game since May 19 in which it has scored more than four times.
In these last five games, all of which have been losses, the Brew Crew have batted .193 as a team. They're not seeing all that many pitches from starters, and they have taken a total of just 12 walks. The team has left 30 men on base as well, meaning the scoring ratio is just 26.8 percent, which just flat out isn't good enough at this level.
Maybe even worse is the fact that the Brewers are striking out a ton as well – 45 times in five games to be exact. They aren't getting that unlucky at the dish, as their BABIP is only .264, which isn't that bad of a number.
Things might only get worse before they get better, and live bettors need to understand that.
TALKING BULLPENS
All of this really plays into the hands of the St. Louis bullpen. If things go according to plan and Garcia can get through six or seven innings, you're talking about seeing the real fireball pitchers coming out of the pen.
Trevor Rosenthal, Jordan Walden, Kevin Siegrist and Miguel Socolovich all have K/9 ratios of over 9.00, and against a team which has struck out 45 times in 45 innings over the last five days, those numbers might only improve.
The moral of the story? St. Louis is a dream to live bet on at just about every juncture of this game, even if you have to lay a big price on it late in games. The Brew Crew just don't have the ability right now to come back from any deficit, no matter how modest that might be.
The baseball betting odds for this game will first be available at BookMaker Sportsbook. BookMaker is going to have multiple betting options available for this baseball matchup. Live wagering during commercials offers and adjusted moneyline, individual inning run totals and next hitter results. Log in, and start gambling during the game now!
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook! The game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals will start at 8:10 p.m. ET on Monday, June 1, 2015 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, MO. The matchup will be televised nationally on ESPN.
