Ala Hann Sport picks

The San Francisco Giants are so close to capturing the NL wild card berth that their fans are betting the team can see it ahead of them. As the NFL betting and college football betting starts to rev up in the Bay area, the Giants find themselves tied with the St. Louis Cardinals in being only one game out of the NL wild card berth currently being held by the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Giants have not been helping themselves at all lately as they have only won four of their last 10 games. The Giants did, however, take the first game of this series against the Red in a convincing 11-2 win. The Giants will need more offense like that if they want to leap over the Cardinals and catch the Phillies for the NL wild card spot.

The Reds are still fending off the Cardinals for the NL Central pennant. The Red had won eight of their last 10 games and put themselves three and a half games up on the Cardinals. But the crushing loss to the Giants in this series coupled with a Cardinal win closed that gap to two and a half games. Now the Reds need to start thinking about the Cardinals as St. Louis is riding its own three-game winning streak.

The MLB betting experts did not expect the Reds to challenge for the NL Central pennant, much less hold the lead for much of the season. But the Reds have gotten some timely hitting and excellent pitching all season long, and just like the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves, the Reds have been able to surprise the experts all season long.

Madison Bumgarner will take the mound for the Giants in this game. Bumgarner has a 5-4 record and a 3.20 ERA this season. It looks like Bumgarner may finally be ready to take his place as a dominant starter on this rotation as he has finally been able to put together back-to-back seven innings or greater performances in his last two starts. The Giants want to see more out of Bumgarner and help take some of the pressure off the struggling Tim Lincecum. It looks like Bumgarner is finally starting to respond.

The Reds will put Homer Bailey on the mound with his 3-2 record and 4.52 ERA. Bailey is just coming back from rehabbing an injury, and in his last two starts he has pitched 13 innings and only allowed one earned run. The Reds figure Bailey to be a factor in their playoff run and, so far, Bailey is responding well to getting back into the starting rotation.

This is one of those games that is fun to watch because both teams have so much to play for. You will not see either team trying out minor leaguers for a couple of innings to see if they might make the team next year. This game is all about the starters and the need for both teams to bring in another win. If this game comes down to starting pitching, then the Reds will have the upper hand.

Pick: Cincinnati Reds 4-2

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