St. Louis Cardinals at Miami Marlins

MLB Opening Day, 2012
St. Louis Cardinals at Miami Marlins (-174)
Suggestion: St. Louis Cardinals (+162)

The Miami Marlins are riding into today's game on a wave of hype. For a team that has shied away from spending in the past, owner Jeffrey Loria has put up $191 million into free agents Mark Buehrle, Jose Reyes, and Heath Bell. The franchise is starting anew, leaving Sun Life Stadium, their home since 1993 into a new state of the art ballpark, a curious addition for a club that could never pull decent attendance numbers, even in their most successful campaigns. However, at the start of the game, it won't matter all that much, and even with ace Josh Johnson returning to the mound after spending most of last season injured, these two teams are a lot closer than a -174 payout would suggest.

Early in the season, much of outcome of these games rests on the starting pitching. There are few better in the game than Miami's Josh Johnson. He is flat-out dominating, and would be the ace of most teams in the league. But few starting pitchers take advantage of April more than Kyle Lohse. Over the past three years he is 4-1 with a 1.64 ERA, 24 K's to 5 walks, with an opponent batting average of .173 and a WHIP of 0.73. That is the kind of pitcher we can back in this situation, especially with the hefty underdog price.

St. Louis, even with the loss of Albert Pujols, are still the reigning World Champions. They won't likely make it to the postseason to defend their title, but we can expect them to be a little chippy early into a season in which no one expects all that much of them. With April surprises fairly common, we'll back the World Series winners, and hopefully pad our bankrolls with an early season bonus. Invest in the St. Louis Cardinals (+162)