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Cardinals, Marlins Battle For Wild Card, both the St. Louis Cardinals and Florida Marlins are trailing in their respective divisions but likely won't catch the leaders. That leaves the two teams fight for the National League Wild Card berth. The oddsmakers at Betonline.com currently have the Marlins as the -.5 -110 MLB betting favorite.

The last two times the Marlins have made the playoffs as a Wild Card, they won the World Series. They are trying to catch the Philadelphia Phillies in the East.

Thursday's pitching matchup will pit Todd Wellemeyer against Scott Olsen.

Wellemeyer has been one of the surprises for the Cardinals staff. He's 9-4 with a 4.01 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP. For the most part, he puts the Cardinals in position to win almost every time he's on the mound. He's allowed three earned runs or less in 14 of his last 18 starts.

Wellemeyer has pitched better on the road than at home this season and he's yet to lose away from home. He's 3-0 with a 3.36 ERA away from home but only 6-4 with a 4.66 ERA at Busch Stadium.

The difference has been his control at home. He's walked 30 batters in 67.2 home innings pitched versus only 12 batters on 67 road innings pitched. His WHIP at home is 1.47 versus 1.09 on the road.

He'll face Olsen, who had been one of the better Marlins starters earlier this year.

The Marlins won eight of his first nine starts this year but are just 4-11 in his last 15 starts. Olsen's ERA is 4.91 in those starts and he's allowed 16 home runs in that span.

He's been a little better of late, allowing just seven earned runs in his last three starts (16.1 innings pitched).

Olsen has yet to face the Cardinals this year but allowed six earned runs, 10 hits and three home runs in his only start against them last year.

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