Jose Quintana, the veteran left-hander who emerged as one of the Cardinals' steadiest and most efficient arms down the stretch, would be my pick to start off this wild-card series against the Phillies.
The Phillies have been a hair more powerful against southpaws like Quintana (.774 on-base plus slugging percentage) than against right-handers (.731 OPS) but not enough to keep you from starting a seasoned starter who since his trade-deadline arrival from Pittsburgh has produced a 2.01 ERA in 12 starts and 62.2 innings pitched. That’s lower than all but six qualified major league starters during that span, and better than guys like Shane Bieber (2.