MLB World Series: Game 1 Prediction
The MLB World Series, the culmination of what every team has been playing to win since their previous season ended, is finally here. After the hundreds of regular season games and the post-season games, two teams remain, The Boston Red Sox and the Saint Louis Cardinals. They will face off in Game 1 on Wednesday, October 23, in what promises to be the start of a very good series.
Both teams are very much even on paper. They both have a 97-65 regular season record, they both won the most competitive division in their league(only one team had losing record in the AL East and three teams made the playoffs in the NL Central), and both teams won their league championships in six games. So who do I think is going to win the first game of the series? I think St. Louis will win.
October 14, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright (50) pitches during the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game three of the National League Championship Series baseball game at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
I main reason I think the Cardinals will take Game 1 is pitching. St. Louis has selected Adam Wainwright to start and Boston has selected Jon Lester to start. Between the two, Wainwright has been pitching better. His ERA of 2.94 is about .8 lower than Lester’s, he has four more wins (he’s 19-9), and has 40 more strikeouts (with 219). Wainwright is first in wins, innings pitched, and complete games; third in strikeouts and winning percentage; and seventh in ERA and WHIP. I predict Wainwright will have a strong game, holding Boston to few hits over almost the entire game if not the entire game.
That’s not to say St. Louis will win easily. After all, the game is being played in Boston. This not only means the Red Sox fans will be giving their energy to their team, but Boston will also being playing with a DH. In this case, their DH is David Ortiz. Ortiz is still expected to play at St. Louis, but that will be at the expense of Mike Napoli, the guy who hit two very important home runs against the Detroit Tigers.
Boston is also the best-hitting team in baseball. The rank first in runs, first in on-base percentage, first in slugging percentage, and second in batting average. This gives them a slight edge over St. Louis who is(in the same categories) third, third, twelfth, and fourth respectively. However, I firmly believe pitching will trump hitting in Game 1, and that is why I think the St. Louis Cardinals will win.