If the San Francisco Giants (87-75) are going to win their fourth World Series title in seven years, they will need to get through the defending National League champions first on Wednesday when they visit the New York Mets (87-75) in the Wild Card Game.
The matchup is listed as a pick’em at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark, with each team hoping its ace can do the job and earn a shot at the Chicago Cubs.
San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner (15-9, 2.74 ERA) was the MVP of the 2014 World Series, but he actually posted the lowest ERA and highest strikeout total (251) of his career this year.
Bumgarner forms a dangerous one-two punch at the top of the rotation with Johnny Cueto, who won the World Series last year with the Kansas City Royals. However, Bumgarner was not as good on the road with a 6-5 mark and 3.39 ERA, although he went 2-0 against the Mets in two starts this season with a 3.27 ERA.
On the other side, New York’s Noah Syndergaard (14-9, 2.60) is also coming off a career year and has the role of staff leader due to injuries to Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz.
How far the Mets would be able to go in the postseason without deGrom and Matz remains to be seen, but Syndergaard has proven he can carry a heavy load. He went 6-6 with a 2.87 ERA at Citi Field this year and 1-1 versus San Francisco in two starts with a 2.63 ERA. The Giants hit only .159 against him in those outings.
The teams split a four-game series in San Francisco between August 18 and 21, with New York winning two of three at home the only other time they met in 2016 between April 29 and May 1. Despite the quality of pitching in this matchup, the total has surprisingly gone over in six of the past seven meetings according to the Odds Shark MLB Database.
In fact, a 6-0 over streak ended on August 21 when Syndergaard blanked the Giants for eight innings in a 2-0 road win for the Mets, allowing just two hits on 98 pitches with two walks and six strikeouts. Both lag behind on the odds to win the World Series, with New York listed at +1800 and San Francisco at +2200.
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