Washington at St. Louis

St. Louis has home field and ace Adam Wainwright going. The Cardinals have a losing road record but are 50-31 at home with an offense that ranks fifth in baseball in runs scored, ninth in slugging and first in on-base percentage. By contrast, Washington ranks tenth in runs and 12th in OBP. The Nationals are 1-5 in their last six road games against a team with a home winning percentage of greater than .600. St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright just faced Washington nine days ago, allowing just one run on five hits and a walk with five strikeouts over six innings against the Nationals. It marked his third quality start in his last four outings. He's racked up 14 wins with a 3.94 ERA and 184 strikeouts over 198.2 innings and has been better at home, with a 10-6 record and a 3.73, fanning 107 in 108 innings. While Wainwright has been involved in pennant races and has won a World Series, Washington starter 27-year old Gio Gonzalez has not. He has a 2.38 ERA at home but that shoots up almost a full run on the road (3.31)...and this is no ordinary offense he's facing. This Washington team is a green bunch of players with only three carrying playoff experience. And the Cardinals are 19-7 in their last 26 home games against a left-handed starter, while the Nationals are 7-24 in the last 31 meetings in St. Louis. Play the Cardinals in Game one of the  NLDS.