The St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds will open their seasons at the Great American Ball Park in Ohio on Monday afternoon. Both teams made the postseason out of the National League Central Division a year ago, and both sides know that wins in March mean just as much as wins in October. <\/p>\n
St. Louis Cardinals (0-0) at Cincinnati Reds (0-0)<\/strong> MLB Matchup Stats<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0MLB ATS Insider Preview<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n After much jostling for position in the Central Division and National League standings over the last few seasons, the Reds and Cardinals will get a chance to begin their battle from day one on Opening Day. The defending National League champions will make the trip out to Cincinnati in just the second Opening Day meeting between the teams in the last 20 years.<\/p>\n Between the two teams, they\u2019ve combined to win four of the five NL Central titles, two each, while standing as the class of the division for several years. The teams will be locked in a tough battle on Monday with both sides sending their ace out.<\/p>\n For the Cardinals, Adam Wainwright will take the bump. He\u2019s coming off a year in which he compiled a 19-9 record, while posting a 2.94 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP. He also struck out 219 batters in 241.2 innings of work. In four starts against Cincinnati, Wainwright went 1-3 with a 7.77 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP while allowing Reds hitters to post a .319 batting average against him. That came a year after he compiled a 1-2 record with a 5.29 ERA against them, while surrendering a .273 batting average.<\/p>\n In his last two starts against them, Wainwright surrendered 18 hits and 15 runs over eight innings of work, including a career-worst two-inning outing in one of those starts.<\/p>\n As for Cueto, he\u2019s looking to put an injury-plagued 2013 behind him, one in which he made just 11 starts. He didn\u2019t face the Cardinals in that time, but he did make six starts against them in 2011 and 2012.<\/p>\n In those six starts, Cueto compiled just a 1-1 record, though he put together an impressive 2.72 ERA in those contests. He compiled a 5-2 record with a 2.82 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in his 11 starts last season.<\/p>\n The Cardinals may be the defending National League champions, and they may be sending their ace out on the mound in this one, but the Reds have owned Wainwright over the last couple seasons, while Cueto has fared well against the Cardinals. They also have the advantage of getting this afternoon game in their own park in front of what should be a packed house on Opening Day.<\/p>\n The Reds are 20-6 in Cueto\u2019s last 26 home starts.<\/p>\n
\n Date: Monday, March 31, 2014<\/strong>
\n Time: 4:00 PM ET<\/strong>
\n Venue: Cincinnati, Ohio<\/strong>
\n City: Great American Ball Park<\/strong>
\n O\/U Odds: 7<\/strong>
\n Money Line: St. Louis -115, Cincinnati +105<\/strong>
\n Pitching Matchup: RH Adam Wainwright (19-9, 2.94 ERA) at RH Johnny Cueto (5-2, 2.82 ERA)<\/strong>
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\nHe did have rough go of it against the Reds last season though.<\/p>\n