The St. Louis Cardinals are coming into the series-finale of this three-game set against the New York Mets looking to complete the sweep. I think we're getting a more than reasonable price on backing the best team in baseball of doing just that.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Pitching - The Mets hand the ball to Jonathon Niese (5-8, 3.61 ERA) who's lost his fair share of road games already this season going 2-5 with a 3.44 ERA in nine road-starts. He's been extremely poor in daylight as well surrendering 15 runs on 25 hits over 21 2/3 innings of work and was torched for eight runs on 11 hits in five frames by St. Louis earlier this season. The Cardinals will counter with Tim Cooney (0-0, 4.34 ERA) who's still looking for his first decision in the big leagues. This will be his fourth start and the Mets must look like a manageable opponent scoring just four runs over the first two games in the series.

2. Road Woes - The Mets have one of the worst road records in baseball this season going 15-30 away from home. The Cardinals are not only the best team in baseball overall, they're also the best home team losing only 11 of their 44 home games this year.

3. X-Factor - The current members of the Cardinals have a combined .371 batting average against Niese with Johnny Peralta going 5-for-11.

Selection: This is a play on the St. Louis Cardinals (10*)