Pittsburgh at St. Louis

Weak offense and bad pitching = favorite? The St. Louis offense is too cold right now to be favored here. They have totaled just 18 hits in their last three games and they've notched 7 or fewer runs in five of their last eight games. MIke Maroth has been pretty bad this year posting a 5-6 mark (0-4 at home) with a 6.18 ERA. And he's getting much worse. He's lost his last three starts getting tagged for 25 runs in just 14 innings! And, he's a lefty which bodes well for Pittsburgh (they are -9.4 units vs. RHP and +1.2 vs. LHP). In contrast to the Cards, Pittsburgh bats are hot. They have notched 51 hits in their last four games and road underdogs of +125 to +175 batting .333+ over their last three games are 34-21 (62%) in September games over the past decade. The Cards are only 18-24 vs. bad teams (under 46%) in post All-Star play the past two seasons. We like Pittsburgh's chances here and see value at +143.