This is an 8* TOTAL SPECIAL on the OVER Cardinals/D-Backs.

I had a play on the OVER in the Cardinals' 5-1 win here yesterday, and while that play came up short, we do now love how Saturday's contest does finally set up as more of a "SLUG-FEST!"

WIth the win, the Cards have been trading high-scoring games, ith lower-scoring ones over their last four games, and we're looking for this trend to continue here.

The Diamondbacks have now seen the total go UNDER in eight straight. The general betting public is now almost auto betting the UNDER in all Arizona games right now, which has led to tonight's total being a couple points lower than it really should be in our opinion.

Dakota Hudson is 6-6 with a 4.17 ERA for the Cardinals. While he's 4-2 with a 3.27 ERA at home, he's only 2-4 with a ballooned 5.15 ERA on the road.

He'll be opposed by Madison Bumgarner, who is 6-12 with a 4.37 ERA. Bumgarner has been better at home than on the road this season, but his ERA does elevate to 5.87 in "night" contests this season.

When taking into account all of the above info, we're hammering the OVER on this one.

Good luck, NP