2020 MLB Wild Card picks: Cardinals vs. Padres, Yankees vs. Indians

An unprecedented eight MLB playoff games will take place on Wednesday. We break down two of them in full and give our picks for the remainder below.

St. Louis Cardinals vs. San Diego Padres, 5:00 p.m., ESPN2

At about this time last year, Jack Flaherty was single-handedly carrying the Cardinals through the postseason. Kwang-Hyun Kim will attempt to fill his shoes as St. Louis starts a best-of-three with the Padres at Petco Park.

Kim (3-0, 1.62 ERA), a 32-year-old southpaw from South Korea, has thrown his hat into the ring for the NL Rookie of the Year Award. Of the seven earned runs he’s surrendered in 39 innings of work this year, four occurred in one start. Factoring out that appearance, his ERA dips to 0.80. Kim is backed by a Redbirds bullpen that was third in the NL in ERA this season (4.00) behind only the Dodgers and Braves.                                                                                                           

Chris Paddack, countering for San Diego in this spot, was a shaky 4-5 with a 4.73 ERA this year. The Cardinals’ offense is weak (24th by runs per game), but they should be able to scratch out some early runs and make them stand up.

MLB Wild Card pick: Cardinals moneyline

New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Indians, 7:00 p.m. ET, ESPN

The Indians have their backs to the wall in this best-of-three series with the Yankees following their stunning defeat in Game 1 after a poor effort from Shane Bieber. But there’s reason to believe they’ll even things up on Wednesday night.

Carlos Carrasco (3-4, 2.91 ERA) starts for Cleveland, and New York’s bats have very limited experience against him. Only outfielders Brett Gardner (6-for-22 with only one extra-base hit) and Aaron Hicks (0-for-10) have seen Carrasco more than four times, giving the pitcher the edge here. He’s backed by a Tribe bullpen that was fifth in ERA (3.53) during the regular season.

Masahiro Tanaka counters for the Bombers. His splits against some of Cleveland’s key hitters are nothing spectacular for either side – shortstop Francisco Lindor is 4-for-15 (.267) and first baseman Carlos Santana is 4-for-16 (.250) with a homer – until you get to third baseman Jose Ramirez. He’s 9-for-14 (.643) all-time against Tanaka and has been red-hot over the season’s final stretch. In his club’s last 12 overall games, Ramirez has six homers and 19 RBI. His potential heroics could force a Game 3.

MLB Wild Card pick: Indians moneyline

Remaining MLB Wild Card picks

Cincinnati Reds at Atlanta Braves, Noon, ESPN

MLB pick: Reds moneyline

Houston Astros at Minnesota Twins, 1:00 p.m., ESPN2

MLB pick: Astros moneyline

Miami Marlins at Chicago Cubs, 2:00 p.m., ABC

MLB pick: Marlins moneyline

Chicago White Sox at Oakland Athletics, 3:00 p.m., ESPN

MLB pick: White Sox moneyline

Toronto Blue Jays at Tampa Bay Rays, 4:00 p.m., TBS

MLB pick: Under seven runs

Milwaukee Brewers at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:00 p.m. ET, ESPN

MLB pick: Dodgers run line