Soft-tossing 35-year-old Miles Mikolas wasn't very good last year for the Cardinals with a 9-13 record and 4.78 ERA. He's worse this season with a 6-7 record and 5.19 ERA.

Mikolas isn't in good form either with an 8.27 ERA during his last three starts. Note this is a day game. Mikolas ERA in day games is 5.73.

I much prefer Washington's promising rookie southpaw Mitchell Parker. He's 5-4 with a 3.61 ERA. Parker has pitched his best at home where he's 3-0 with a 3.11 ERA. The Nationals have won four of Parker's five home starts.

Washington is averaging 7.6 runs during the first three games of this series.

The Cardinals are batting only .229 against lefty pitching. They rank second-to-last against lefties in batting and slugging percentage.