Cardinals and Red Sox will meet for the fourth time in a World Series matchup; game 1 will be this Wednesday at 8:07 PM ET at Fenway Park.
The starting pitcher for St. Louis will be Adam Wainwright; meanwhile Boston will send lefty John Lester. The Cardinals have won two of three World Series against the Red Sox, but Boston swept the last they meet in 2004.
“Obviously I’m aware of the history of the two teams,” Red Sox Jacoby Ellsbury said. “Once the first pitch happens, all that goes out the window.”
Wainwright is 2-1 with an incredible 1.57 ERA in this postseason after 23 innings pitched in three games.
“I don’t want to make it like an ordinary game,” Wainwright said on the eve of the Fall Classic opener. “I want this to mean even more than regular games.”
“I can’t tell you how cool it is to pitch in front of great crowds like we’re going to have here in Boston, and like we’re going to have in St. Louis with that crisp, cool air, that Octobery kind of air, where you know it’s playoff baseball.”
Lester is also 2-1 with a 2.33 ERA after 19.1 innings. He is the favorite in the betting odds to win game one -122 in the moneyline; Wainwright is +112 and the run total is at 7.
These two ball clubs haven’t met since 2008, but I get the feeling we are up for a long dramatic series.