Los Angeles Dodgers: Morning baseball in St. Louis

The Los Angeles Dodgers can move into sole possession of the second NL Wild Card spot, and even first in the NL West, with a win on Saturday.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have done exactly what the team needed to do when coming into St. Louis to play the second NL Wild Card seed, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Backed by an offensive showing in game one and a gem in game two, the Dodgers have won the first two games of the series with the two best pitchers on the mound, Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler.

Now, entering Saturday’s contest, the Dodgers are tied with the Cardinals for the second NL Wild Card spot and are half a game back of the Colorado Rockies. A win will at least give the Dodgers the Wild Card advantage. A win and a Rockies loss will give them the division lead.

It is important that the Dodgers win at least one of the last two games in St. Louis. The Dodgers are wrapping up the team’s final series against the Rockies with a three-game homestand from Monday to Wednesday.

Potentially dropping both games and moving 2.5 games back would put the Dodgers in a tough position needing a sweep. However, maintaining the current half game window or even taking the division lead would be huge for LA.

If everything goes as planned, which likely won’t happen, the Dodgers could have a 4.5 game lead in the NL West by the off-day next Thursday.

That is looking too far ahead and we instead need to look towards Saturday morning baseball. While it is an afternoon game in St. Louis, Dodger fans are going to be treated with a 10:05 a.m. PST start time.

Without further ado, let’s get into our Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak selections.

Sarah’s pick — Current streak 0: Cody Bellinger

Here’s my BTS for tomorrow: My pick for tonight is Cody Bellinger. Bellinger hasn’t had as strong of a season as he did last year, back when it felt like he was hitting home runs non-stop. The Dodgers need another win in St. Louis, and I have a feeling that Bellinger will find his 2017 form, and help this team to a win.

Jason’s pick — Current streak 3: Max Muncy

I am going with Max Muncy on back-to-back days, something I rarely, if ever, do in this series. Even rarer is that I am making this back-to-back selection on a power-hitter, not someone that is reliable for one hit like Justin Turner or Manny Machado.

However, Muncy is likely going to get the start for the second day in a row with a right-handed pitcher on the mound in John Gant.

The ball flies a little bit further in the afternoon and Muncy is going to unload on a pitch to hit into the right-field seats. I predicted that he was due for a home run last night, and while he did not get one, he did extend my streak.