As Major League Baseball is nearing the end of the first twenty percent of its season, the league’s best teams are beginning to emerge. And no team has emerged as stronger than the St. Louis Cardinals so far, who have the best record in all of baseball in this early stage of the season. There are many reasons for their great start of 22 wins and 9 losses, all of which combine to make them one of the favorites among baseball tipsters to win this year’s World Series.
Perhaps the most prominent reason for St. Louis’ strong start is the schedule they have played against so far. Their division, the National League Central has just one other team with a record above .500. That team, the Chicago Cubs, has just 16 wins and 15 losses, meaning that they are hardly impressive either. Outside of their division, the Cardinals have played the Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians, and Washington Nationals. Philadelphia and Cleveland are the two worst teams in the sport right now, while Washington has failed to live up to expectations to this point.
With that said, the Cardinals still need to go out and win the games they are assigned to play, and they have done just that thanks to a great mix of pitching and hitting prowess. St. Louis has the lowest Earned Run Average in baseball, with that number sitting at 2.75, making them one of just two teams in the sport with an ERA below 3.00. Top baseball betting experts know that pitching is the key to victory in baseball, and the Cardinals have tons of pitching.
Early in this campaign, it was unclear as to where the team would find pitching success, as star pitcher Adam Wainwright went down with an injury. However, Michael Wacha has stepped up and given the Cardinals Wainwright-esque production with five wins already this year to make him one of the league’s win leaders. In the bullpen, Trevor Rosenthal has been lights out with 11 saves in 12 save attempts as a part of a relief unit that has greatly contributed to the team’s league best ERA.
Offensively, the Cardinals have scored 150 runs on the season, making them one of just nine clubs to have put up 150 or more runs to this point in the season. As expected, they have been led by Matt Holliday, whose .346 batting average is the seventh best in all of Major League Baseball.
As a whole, the Cardinals boast a batting average of .273, the third best mark in the league behind the Kansas City Royals and Colorado Rockies. Just behind Holliday is Matt Carpenter with a .336 batting average. Carpenter also leads the team in hits (38), home runs (5), and RBI (21), which offers protection in the lineup to Holliday, and vice versa, as you cannot be careful with one and risk giving up a big hit to the other.
The St. Louis Cardinals have had a dream start to the 2015 Major League Baseball season and, if they can keep playing the way they have been, will be tabbed as championship favorites by top baseball tipsters and fans alike.
BY: JASON M. SANIN