N.L. Wildcard

St. Louis Cardinals (88-74) at Atlanta Braves (94-68), 5:07pm TBS

Pitching Matchup: Kyle Lohse (16-3, 2.86) at Kris Medlen (10-1, 1.57)

The Braves are the favorite for good reason.  They are a better team than St. Louis right now.  Kris Medlin is on fire and Cardinal batters are hitting .160 against him.  The only way the Cards are going to leave Atlanta and host the Nationals is if they can get to Medlin early.  If they can get to him early then maybe the pressure of his first postseason will get to him and he may crack.  If that doesn’t happen the Braves stellar bullpen will not give up a lead if Medlin gets them one.

Pick:  Braves 5, Cardinals 1

A.L. Wildcard

Baltimore Orioles (93-69) at Texas Rangers (93-69), 8:37pm TBS

Pitching Matchup:  Joe Sanders (9-13, 4.07) at Yu Darvish (16-9, 3.90)

The Rangers played poorly down the stretch and got caught by the Oakland A’s in the A.L. West, but Yu Darvish has been pitching great.  If this game was played on paper the Rangers would be hands down favorites to host the Yankees, but the Orioles have proved the doubters wrong all year.  I like Darvish to shut the Birds down and the Ranger bats to put up some runs on Sanders.

Pick:  Rangers 9, Orioles 4