It has been a tale of two seasons for these teams. The St. Louis Cardinals are on an 18-6 stretch and sit in 1st place in their division. The Boston Red Sox continue to fight to stay above .500.
Boston’s inability to consistently score runs has hampered them this year. They rank 15th in the majors in runs scored. This is pretty much the same lineup that finished last season ranked 1st. The only subtraction has been David Ortiz.
The Cardinals come into the series 3.5 games clear of the defending champion Chicago Cubs.