MLB Game Picks - Saturday: October 19, 2013

Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals and the team's fans for making it to the World Series after their 9-0 exclamation point of a victory over Clayton Kershaw, Donnie Baseball and the rest of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Congratulations also go to the Dodgers who had a great season that fell a couple of games short.

The game yesterday showed off all of the Cardinals strengths. Starting with Matt Carpenter's eleven pitch at-bat that led to a double to a whole bunch of timely hits, untimely errors by Yasiel Puig to great pitching by starter Michael Wacha and the bullpen. This game was a showcase of all that makes the Cardinals the best team in the National League. It also exposed some of the Dodgers' problems that need to be addressed over the winter and into the spring.

I begin the following thoughts with a disclaimer about my obvious dislike of Adrian Gonzalez. His on-field arrogance and interview chutzpah did not help his team's cause. And that little "Mickey Mouse" poster before the game was childish and taking things too far. I am a big karma guy and Gonzalez did not buy himself any in this series--except for the bad kind.

We still have to figure out who the Cardinals will be playing in the World Series. The win in Detroit in Game 5 was huge for the Red Sox and gives them an edge coming back to Boston. But that edge is somewhat dulled by having to face Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander (if it goes that far) back to back to get this job done. Will the series get to Verlander?

The Pick:

• The Boston Red Sox over the Detroit Tigers: Here is what I am thinking. First, I believe the Red Sox will score four runs off of Max Scherzer. Scherzer usually gives up one or two runs, but you have to double that because of how well the Red Sox score runs. That said, the key to the game is what the Red Sox get from Clay Buchholz. It is a little disconcerting that two such important games in the LCS should be started by pitchers whose names begin with "Clay." I do not feel that his last game showed how good Buchholz is. Like Kershaw last night, it was just a bad day at the office. I think he will come back just as strong as ever and pitch a great game. His key is to pitch quickly and to not nibble against the better Tigers hitters. The odds makers are also going with Boston to win in this game. Just saying.

Yesterday: 0-1

Post season: 18-14

Season: 1392-1081