Wild Card Betting Cheat Sheet

Heading into the final day of the regular season, there was a possibility that a maximum of three play-in games would be scheduled depending on different win/loss combinations.

However, it all broke right where none of those games would be played as the two Wild Card games coming up on Tuesday and Wednesday will have two excellent teams get eliminated.

In the American League, it's old BFF's getting together at Fenway Park as the Red Sox host the Yankees for the right to face another division rival in the Rays coming up in the ALDS.

The National League pits the 106-win Dodgers against the red-hot Cardinals in Los Angeles as the defending champions hope to avoid getting bounced in the first postseason contest.

American League Wild Card Game

New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox

Tuesday - 8:08 p.m. ET - ESPN
Fenway Park - Boston, Massachusetts

Starting Pitchers

  • NYY: Gerrit Cole (16-8, 3.23 ERA)
  • BOS: Nathan Eovaldi (11-9, 3.75 ERA)

Opening Odds

  • N.Y. Yankees ML -115
  • Boston ML -105
  • N.Y. Yankees (-1.5) -135
  • Boston (+1.5) -165
  • Over (8.5) -115
  • Under (8.5) -105
Odds per BetMGM

The Yankees and Red Sox finished with identical 92-70 records on the season, but Boston held the tie-breaker edge by winning 10 of 19 meetings.

However, it was tale of two halves when these rivals met as Boston captured the first seven matchups, including a pair of sweeps.

New York rebounded by winning nine of the final 12 contests, including two sweeps since August, capped off by a three-game broom job at Fenway Park in late September.

Gerrit Cole is seeking his first World Series ring, as the Yankees' right-hander is 7-2 in 10 career playoff starts, while New York went 2-1 in his three postseason outings in 2020.

The Yankees posted a 2-2 record in Cole's four starts against the Red Sox this season, which included a 1-2 mark at Fenway. The lone win came in his previous outing on September 24, an 8-3 triumph in Beantown in which he allowed three earned runs in six innings.

One-time Yankee Nathan Eovaldi gets the ball for the Red Sox in this winner-take-all matchup as Boston is 7-1 in his past eight starts. The only loss came opposite Cole and the Yankees in that 8-3 defeat, as Eovaldi was touched up for seven runs in less than three innings of work.

The Sox lost four of Eovaldi's six starts against the Yankees this season, as five of those games finished Under the total.


Gerrit Cole heads to the mound on Tuesday night as the Yankees face the Red Sox in the AL Wild Card game. (AP)

National League Wild Card Game

St. Louis Cardinals at Los Angeles Dodgers

Wednesday - 8:10 p.m. ET - TBS
Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles, California

Starting Pitchers

  • STL: Adam Wainwright (17-7, 3.05 ERA)
  • LAD: Max Scherzer (15-4, 2.46 ERA)

Opening Odds

  • St. Louis ML +180
  • L.A. Dodgers ML -225
  • St. Louis (+1.5) -115
  • L.A. Dodgers (-1.5) -105
  • Over (7.5) -110
  • Under (7.5) -110
Odds per BetMGM

It's crazy to think that the Dodgers won 106 games, but can be eliminated in one fell swoop if they get tripped up by the Cardinals on Wednesday.

St. Louis looked like it was heading to a .500 season on September 7 after losing at home to Los Angeles to fall to 69-68. However, the Cardinals would lose only four games the rest of the way as they rolled to a 21-2 record in a 23-game span before dropping a pair of meaningless games to the Cubs.

The Dodgers captured four of seven regular season meetings from the Cardinals, including winning two of three matchups at Chavez Ravine in early June.

St. Louis native and Cy Yound favorite Max Scherzer was brought to Los Angeles to help bolster its already loaded rotation. Scherzer hasn't been a contributor in L.A., he's been an absolute horse as the Dodgers are 11-0 in his 11 starts, while nine of those wins came by two runs or more.

Opposing Scherzer is another veteran in Adam Wainwright, who returned to ace status as the Cardinals won 13 of his final 14 starts of the season. Ten times during this 14-start span Wainwright allowed two earned runs or less, while defeating the Dodgers at Busch Stadium in early September, 5-4.

The Dodgers have not played in the Wild Card game since the format was adopted in 2012, while the Cardinals haven't been in this best-of-one situation since the 2012 debut season when they bounced the Braves in Atlanta.