World Series Game 1 Betting News

[new york knight]

World Series Notebook
By VegasInsider

Series Price: Texas -155 St. Louis +135
Series Format: St. Louis 2-3-2

Game 1: Wednesday Oct. 19
Game 2: Thursday, Oct. 20
Game 3: Saturday, Oct. 22
Game 4: Sunday, Oct. 23
*Game 5: Monday, Oct. 24
*Game 6: Wednesday, Oct. 26
*Game 7: Thursday, Oct. 27

Betcha Didn't Know

# Texas went 9-9 against the National League - 5-4 on the road, 4-5 at home.
# When playing in NL parks, the 'under' was 7-2 for the Rangers. At home, the 'over' was 6-2-1.
# St. Louis was 8-7 against the American League - 6-3 on the road, 2-4 at home. (Make a note that 5 of the 6 wins came against the O's and Royals)
# The 'under' was 6-3 for the Cardinals when using a DH in AL parks. The 'over' went 4-1-1 at Busch Stadium versus AL clubs.
# St. Louis is 21-22 against lefthanders, which includes a 9-15 mark at home.
# Texas has crushed lefties at home (18-8) but are a pedestrian 9-14 on the road for an overall mark of 27-22.
# Two games of the World Series are scheduled on Wednesday (1, 6) and two games for Thursday (2,7).
# The Rangers have gone 14-11 and 7-11 in those respective days, while the Cardinals own a 13-15 and 14-7 mark.

Betcha Didn't Know - WS Facts

# The World Series hasn't seen a Game 7 since 2002 (Anaheim-San Francisco)
# There have been three sweeps in the last eight World Series, all by the American League (Boston 2004, Chicago White Sox 2005, Boston 2007).
# The last three National League wins in the World Series all ended in exactly five games (St. Louis 2006, Philadelphia 2008, San Francisco 2010).
# The Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols (5/1) is the favorite to win the WS MVP. The last time a first baseman won the MVP was in 1979, when Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates captured the hardware.

Umpires:

The crew is led by Jerry Lane, who will be behind home plate for Game 1. Listed below are the total results (O/U) for each umpire.

Jerry Lane: 13-17
Greg Gibson: 9-21
Alfonso Marquez: 14-19
Ron Kulpa: 15-18
Ted Barrett: 17-14
Gary Cederstrom: 12-21

After Lane, Gibson should go behind the plate in Game 2 since he's listed at 1B for Game 1. If the pattern continues, then the following umpire would be behind the plate as the series continues.

Game 1 Analysis

For all the baseball purists that believe the World Series is ruined thanks to Interleague play, this season's World Series is actually a unique matchup. The Rangers have never visited Busch Stadium, while only playing the Cardinals in just one series ever, coming back in 2004. The two pennant winners meet up in Eastern Missouri on Wednesday for Game 1 of the Fall Classic in an unexpected meeting of a pair of clubs that took different roads to get to this point.

C.J. Wilson takes the mound in the series opener for the Rangers, seeking his first win in the postseason. The Texas southpaw has put together an ERA of 8.04 in three playoff outings, while allowing six earned runs in two separate starts against Tampa Bay and Detroit. The Rangers own a 2-4 record in Wilson's six road underdog outings this season, including the Game 5 loss in the ALCS at Detroit.

The Cardinals counter with their ace Chris Carpenter, who received extra rest after St. Louis eliminated Milwaukee in six games of the NLCS. Carpenter hasn't tossed many innings in the postseason (17 IP in three starts), but turned in one of the best playoff starts in history with a complete game shutout of the Phillies in Game 5 of the NLDS. The Cardinals are just 2-6 in the former Cy Young Award winner's last eight starts at Busch Stadium, but one of those victories came in Game 3 of the NLCS over Milwaukee.

The Rangers have dominated right-handed starting pitching in the playoffs with a 7-2 record, while the Cardinals are just 1-2 against southpaw starters. Texas will not have home-field advantage in this series due to the National League winning the All-Star Game, but the Rangers have seen success on the highway by winning 10 of their previous 13 games away from Arlington.

Exact Game Props - Bodog.com

Texas Rangers 4-0 (8/1)
Texas Rangers 4-1 (4/1)
Texas Rangers 4-2 (4/1)
Texas Rangers 4-3 (9/2)
St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 (18/1)
St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 (17/2)
St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 (11/2)
St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 (19/4)

[new york knight]

Game 1 Preview

Carpenter is 4-0, 1.76 in his last six starts; no Cardinal starting pitcher got more than 15 outs in any of the games in Milwaukee series. Wilson is 0-2, 9.19 in his last three starts. Over is 18-11-2 in the playoffs so far, 7-3-1 in St Louis games, 6-4 in Texas games; favorites are 19-12, home sides are 18-13. Cardinals are 3-2 at home in postseason, Rangers are 3-2 on road. No DH for games in St Louis.

[new york knight]

Rangers at Cardinals - Game 1: What Bettors Need to Know


Texas Rangers at St. Louis Cardinals (-117, 7.5)

THE STORY: The Texas Rangers expected to be back in the World Series. The St. Louis Cardinals were excited just to be part of the postseason after an epic late-season charge. The two squads open the World Series in St. Louis on Wednesday in their first meeting since an interleague series during the 2004 campaign. Texas defeated the Detroit Tigers in six games in the American League Championship Series. St. Louis overcame a 10 1/2-game deficit in late August to claim the National League wild-card berth and downed the Milwaukee Brewers in six games in the NLCS.

WEATHER: There is a 29 percent chance of showers to start Game 1 Wednesday. The rain is expected to pass, however, winds will reach speeds of up to 14 mph, blowing NW across the field. Game-time temperatures will dip into the low 40s.

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rangers LH C.J. Wilson (16-7, 2.94 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Chris Carpenter (11-9, 3.45 ERA)

Wilson drew the Game 1 start despite a poor postseason thus far. He is 0-2 with an 8.04 ERA in three starts and has allowed 21 hits – including six homers – in 15 2/3 innings. Lance Berkman (3-for-13) is the only St. Louis player with more than four career at-bats against Wilson.

Carpenter is reportedly dealing with elbow soreness and is 2-0 with a 3.71 ERA this postseason. He is 2-6 with a 7.26 ERA in 12 career appearances (11 starts) against Texas with all but one of them occurring when he pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays from 1997-2002. Mike Napoli is 3-for-3 with a homer against Carpenter.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS: Albert Pujols could be playing his final games for St. Louis. The free-agent-to-be is batting .419 in the postseason. NLCS Most Valuable Player David Freese batted .545 with three homers and nine RBIs against the Brewers. St. Louis hopes to have second baseman Skip Schumaker (side) back after he missed the NLCS. Closer Jason Motte has allowed just one hit in eight scoreless innings with four saves in the postseason.

ABOUT THE RANGERS: ALCS MVP Nelson Cruz set a postseason record with six homers against Detroit. He had 13 RBIs and all eight of his hits in the series were for extra bases. Michael Young had a three-hit, five-RBI performance in the finale against the Tigers after having just six hits and two RBIs over the Rangers’ first nine postseason games. Josh Hamilton hasn’t homered in 41 postseason at-bats.

TRENDS:

- Rangers are 20-7 in their last 27 vs. National League Central.
- Rangers are 36-15 in their last 51 during Game 1 of a series.
- Cardinals are 16-6 in their last 22 vs. American League West.
- Cardinals are 0-4 in their last 4 during Game 1 of a series.
- Over is 33-16-3 in Rangers' last 52 games vs. a right-handed starter.
- Under is 16-7-1 in Cardinals' last 24 playoff home games.

FINAL PITCH: Texas had never appeared in the World Series prior to last season. St. Louis is making its 18th appearance in the Fall Classic.

[new york knight]

Wednesday's Best MLB Bet
Covers

Texas Rangers at St. Louis Cardinals (-125, 7.5)

If you like the underdog St. Louis Cardinals, they have a great chance to draw first blood Wednesday at home with ace Chris Carpenter on the mound.

Carpenter hasn’t exactly been dominant in the playoffs, but if there’s one guy in the St. Louis rotation that you can count on to come up big, it’s him. His complete-game, three-hitter against Roy Halladay and the Phillies pushed the Cardinals into the NLCS and the team has only gained momentum since.

St. Louis has now won 12 of its last 16 games at Busch Stadium and the club’s offense seems to be hitting its stride after pounding out 15 runs in Game 6 of the NLCS to eliminate the Brewers.

Much like last season’s San Francisco Giants, everything seems to be coming together for the Cardinals at the right time. Brewers manager Ron Roenicke knows all about it.

"St. Louis is hot," Roenicke told reporters. "Did they do anything wrong during the series? That's incredible to go through a series and have everything you do go right. That's what you have to have happen in playoffs. You have to have breaks that you create because you're playing good, which they did. But they outplayed us. They're a good team and they outplayed us."

Another factor you may want to check into is the weather. Instead of the triple-digit temperatures the Rangers are used to at home, it’s supposed to be cold and windy in St. Louis for at least the first two games of the series.

We’ll take a shot with the Cardinals in Game 1.

[new york knight]

Cardinals, Rangers World Series Game 1 Preview
By: Willie Bee

An interesting prop bet for this year's World Series might be an 'over/under' on the number of starting pitchers to work more than five innings. Judging by how the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals worked their way through the League Championship Series round, the 'under' would draw a lot of action.

The matchup between the Rangers and Cardinals is probably surprising enough to most folks, but it's how the two clubs got here that is a complete shock to fans and bettors who have followed the sport over the years. Texas' appearance as repeat American League champs really shouldn't be too surprising and the opening odds like the Rangers at -160 to take home their first World Series title.

St. Louis just making the playoffs was stunning to say the least, with the Redbirds 10.5-games out of the National League Wild Card race a little more than a month from the end of the regular season. They first had to dump the heavily-favored Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS, then drop the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS.

Still, neither the Cardinals nor the Rangers made it to this point the old-fashioned way, behind stellar starting pitching. It should have the Phillies scratching their heads right now after the incredible rotation they assembled for the 2011 campaign.

All told, Texas and St. Louis starters worked just 53 innings in the 12 LCS contests and were charged with 40 earned runs (6.79 ERA). The relievers for both clubs tossed 56 innings and surrendered 10 runs (1.60).

It's enough to make you stop and wonder if Scott Feldman and Marc Rzepczynski might be the real 'aces' of these two staffs.

The actual No. 1 starters for each club are expected to get things rolling Wednesday night at Busch Stadium where the Cardinals finally have home-field advantage in the postseason, thanks to the NL winning the All-Star Game. Texas manager Ron Washington had yet to make an official announcement on his starter, though CJ Wilson is the most likely choice. Tony La Russa and St. Louis will turn to Chris Carpenter.

Early numbers for the matchup showed Carpenter and the Cards -120 choices with a 7½-run betting total.

Wilson has struggled this postseason to put it mildly. Following up on a regular season that saw the Rangers win 21 of his 34 starts while the southpaw fashioned a 2.94 ERA, Wilson has been raked for a 1.85 WHIP and 8.04 ERA in three playoff starts, Texas only winning once.

He had a bad break in his last start, Game 5 of the ALCS in Detroit, when a Miguel Cabrera grounder took a bounce off the third base bag to open the doors for a 4-run Tigers sixth inning. Wilson will be facing a Cardinals lineup that is 20-22 vs. left-handers, including the postseason.

Colby Lewis would be the Game 1 starter for the Rangers if Wilson doesn't get the starting nod on Wednesday. Lewis picked up a win in the ALDS vs. Tampa Bay, then took a loss in the ALCS against the Tigers.

Carpenter had the last quality start by a Cardinals pitcher when he tossed his complete game, 3-hit shutout to win the NLDS vs. Philadelphia. The veteran right-hander followed that up with a rather ho-hum outing in Game 3 of the NLCS, allowing three Brewers runs in five innings of St. Louis' 4-3 victory.

Both managers would no doubt love to see their starters go at least seven innings each game. Each staff certainly has arms capable of turning around the crazy numbers in the two league championship series. But don't think for one minute that either Washington or La Russa will hesitate to go to their 'pens.

Remember that La Russa, plus his longtime pitching coach Dave Duncan, once used a 'platoon rotation' when they were in Oakland back in 1993.

Both managers also have very potent lineups that can help bail out ineffective pitchers. Thanks to the red-hot Nelson Cruz, the Rangers have ramped up their scoring a bit with 55 runs in 10 postseason games; they were third in the majors during the regular season with a 5.28 RPG mark.

David Freese has overshadowed stars like Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman in the St. Louis batting order this October. The Cardinals were tops in the NL scoring 4.70 runs per game through the regular season, and have exceeded that in the playoffs with a 5.64 average.

The Rangers shouldn't suffer too much without a DH in the games played at Busch Stadium. The odd men out will be Mitch Moreland and Yorvit Torrealba. Michael Young was the DH in six of Texas' 10 playoff games to date, but should be at 1B for Games 1 and 2.

There really isn't much history between the two clubs, with just one interleague series meeting along the way, and that was over seven years ago in June 2004. St. Louis won two of the three played in Texas, with Carpenter the losing pitcher in the only defeat and the 'over' going 2-1.

Cloudy, cool, windy and a 20 percent chance of rain is the St. Louis forecast for Wednesday. FOX, in its infinite wisdom, still hasn't decided on the exact game time, but the thermometer will already be in the upper-40s around 8:30 p.m. (ET), 7:30 local. A pretty good NW wind (12-15 mph) across from left to right is part of the mix.

[new york knight]

TEXAS (103 - 69) at ST LOUIS (97 - 76)

C.J. WILSON (L) vs. CHRIS CARPENTER (R)

Top Trends for this game.
ST LOUIS is 98-77 (+4.2 Units) against the money line in all games this season.
ST LOUIS is 97-75 (+4.9 Units) against the money line in games played on a grass field this season.
ST LOUIS is 73-47 (+17.3 Units) against the money line in night games this season.
ST LOUIS is 38-30 (+7.5 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
ST LOUIS is 27-15 (+14.5 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
CARPENTER is 14-2 (+10.4 Units) against the money line in home games when playing against a team with a winning record over the last 2 seasons.
CARPENTER is 9-1 (+9.4 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
TEXAS is 104-68 (+17.2 Units) against the money line in all games this season.
TEXAS is 32-23 (+12.3 Units) against the money line as a road underdog of +100 to +125 over the last 2 seasons.
TEXAS is 200-168 (+35.4 Units) against the money line when playing on Wednesday since 1997.
TEXAS is 98-63 (+16.5 Units) against the money line in games played on a grass field this season.
TEXAS is 76-43 (+17.8 Units) against the money line in night games this season.
TEXAS is 77-45 (+19.7 Units) against the money line against right-handed starters this season.
TEXAS is 50-35 (+11.4 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
TEXAS is 86-64 (+21.5 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season over the last 3 seasons.
WILSON is 45-24 (+12.9 Units) against the money line in games played on a grass field over the last 2 seasons.
WILSON is 33-14 (+14.3 Units) against the money line in night games over the last 2 seasons.
ST LOUIS is 24-29 (-16.7 Units) against the money line when playing on Wednesday over the last 2 seasons.
ST LOUIS is 8-15 (-11.7 Units) against the money line in home games against left-handed starters this season.
ST LOUIS is 22-22 (-12.0 Units) against the money line in home games after a win this season.
CARPENTER is 8-11 (-12.7 Units) against the money line in home games this season.
CARPENTER is 8-11 (-12.7 Units) against the money line in home games in games played on a grass field this season.
CARPENTER is 3-8 (-12.3 Units) against the money line in home games after a win this season.

Head-to-Head Series History
There were no past matchups in this series during this time period.

C.J. WILSON vs. ST LOUIS since 1997
No recent starts.

CHRIS CARPENTER vs. TEXAS since 1997
CARPENTER is 2-6 when starting against TEXAS with an ERA of 7.16 and a WHIP of 1.807.
His team's record is 4-7 (-3.0 units) in these starts. The UNDER is 5-6. (-1.4 units)


TEXAS vs. ST. LOUIS
Texas is 13-3 SU in its last 16 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Texas's last 5 games
St. Louis is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 10 of St. Louis's last 14 games


TEXAS at ST LOUIS
WILSON: TEX 10-17 after game w/ combined 15+ runs
CARPTENTER: STL 18-4 after game w/ combined 15+ runs

[new york knight]

Weather to watch

Meteorologists are predicting a cold and windy Game 1 of the World Series. Temperatures are expected to be in the low 30s with winds gusting to as high as 29 mph. As of now, those winds are predicted to be blowing toward right field.



Who’s hot

MLB: St. Louis has won 23 of its last 32 overall.

Who’s not

MLB: Texas is 2-6 in its last eight road games with C.J. Wilson on the hill.

[new york knight]

ST. LOUIS - Prospect native and 1976 Elgin High School graduate Jerry Layne will be umpiring behind home plate tonight when the World Series begins in St. Louis.

Layne is serving as the umpiring crew chief for the Series, which will feature the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers.

The umpiring roster for the Series was announced on Tuesday.

Layne, a 23-year Major League umpire, will umpire in his second World Series. He also worked the 2005 fall classic between the Chicago White Sox and the Houston Astros. This is his first crew chief assignment in the World Series.

Layne umpired division series in 1995, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2010, and this season when he worked the St. Louis-Philadelphia series.

He worked league championship series in 1997, 1999, 2006 and 2009.

The other World Series umpires will be Greg Gibson, Ron Kulpa, Gary Cederstrom, Ted Barrett and Alfonso Marquez.

[new york knight]

Jerry Layne |
G W/L Avg Pit Str. B Str.% SO BB K/BB HR O/U
33 17-16 8.61 287 181 106 63.1 13.9 6.3 2.19 1.58 13-17

Last 10 Games
Date Home - Road Home Starter Road Starter Line Result O/U
10/04/11 STL 2 - PHI 3 J. Garcia C. Hamels 114/7 Road U
09/18/11 BOS 5 - TB 8 T. Wakefield D. Price 127/9 Road O
09/14/11 ATL 4 - FLA 1 R. Delgado R. Nolasco -175/8 Home U
09/10/11 DET 3 - MIN 2 M. Scherzer A. Swarzak -188/8.5 Home U
09/05/11 OAK 6 - KC 11 R. Harden F. Paulino -156/8.5 Road O
09/01/11 SEA 3 - LAA 4 C. Furbush E. Santana 147/7.5 Road U
08/28/11 LA 6 - COL 7 N. Eovaldi J. Chacin -114/7.5 Road O
08/24/11 MIN 1 - BAL 6 K. Slowey J. Guthrie -127/9 Road U
08/20/11 PIT 5 - CIN 3 C. Morton D. Willis -110/8.5 Home U
08/16/11 BOS 3 - TB 1 J. Lester J. Shields -160/8 Home U

vs. Rangers
Date Home - Road Home Starter Road Starter Line Result O/U
09/15/10 TEX 11 - DET 7 C. Lewis A. Galarraga -173/9.5 Home O
08/22/09 TB 5 - TEX 4 M. Garza T. Hunter -172/9 Home P
04/17/09 TEX 3 - KC 12 M. Harrison G. Meche -113/10.5 Road O
09/29/07 SEA 5 - TEX 1 M. Batista K. Millwood -131/9 Home U
09/11/07 DET 4 - TEX 1 J. Jurrjens B. McCarthy -170/10.5 Home U
05/15/07 TB 4 - TEX 3 J. Shields B. McCarthy -150/9 Home U
09/13/06 DET 3 - TEX 11 J. Verlander K. Millwood -130/8.5 Road O
06/06/06 KC 2 - TEX 6 S. Elarton K. Millwood 183/9.5 Road U
05/09/06 TEX 5 - MIN 15 K. Millwood C. Silva -176/10.5 Road O
05/24/05 TEX 4 - KC 3 R. Drese R. Hernandez -163/10.5 Home U

vs. C.J. Wilson(L)
No Previous Data


vs. Cardinals
Date Home - Road Home Starter Road Starter Line Result O/U
10/04/11 STL 2 - PHI 3 J. Garcia C. Hamels 114/7 Road U
05/03/11 STL 7 - FLA 5 K. McClellan A. Sanchez -128/8 Home O
04/11/11 ARI 2 - STL 8 B. Enright K. McClellan 111/10 Road P
03/16/11 DET 4 - STL 9 -116/- Road -
03/10/11 ATL 2 - STL 1 -125/9 Home U
07/21/10 STL 5 - PHI 1 J. Garcia J. Blanton -142/8.5 Home U
06/16/09 STL 11 - DET 2 A. Wainwright J. Verlander 106/7.5 Home O
04/29/09 ATL 3 - STL 5 J. Vazquez A. Wainwright -115/8 Road P
05/24/08 LA 0 - STL 4 B. Penny K. Lohse -133/8.5 Road U
04/28/08 STL 3 - CIN 4 T. Wellemeyer B. Arroyo -137/8.5 Road U

vs. Chris Carpenter(L)
Date Home - Road Home Starter Road Starter Line Result O/U
05/14/06 STL 6 - ARI 7 C. Carpenter M. Batista -230/8.5 Road O
05/12/01 TOR 7 - SEA 11 C. Carpenter F. Garcia -110/9.5 Road O

[Hazmat]

great info .. thanks..

[new york knight]

[Hazmat]

they all seem to lean toward STL.. i am gonna go texas! lol.. good luck! leaning over also..

[Mendoza Line]

Looking forward to playing the under with Gibson umping tomorrow. Guy has been money for a couple of seasons.