The New York Mets take on the St. Louis Cardinals. Our MLB odds series has our Mets Cardinals prediction and pick. Find out how to watch Mets Cardinals.

The St. Louis Cardinals face a genuine crisis in early May. Some people might say “it's only early May and there's still 135 games of runway left in the season,” which is understandable enough, but anyone and everyone in the Cardinals' camp has to be hugely concerned with this team's position right now.

The Cardinals are not an elite team, and no one entered this season thinking St. Louis would dominate the competition in a wide-open National League Central Division race. Everyone knows that the three best teams in the National League are the Dodgers, Phillies and Braves in some order. The Cardinals, even in a best-case scenario, were going to be no better than the fourth- or fifth-best team in the Senior Circuit. However, through the first five and a half weeks of the season, everything feels an awful lot like 2023. The Cardinals have some big names on their roster, but they aren't producing at the level they should be. Paul Goldschmidt is having an awful season. Lars Nootbaar is producing some bad situational at-bats in high-leverage moments, such as this past Saturday in the bottom of the 10th inning in a horrific loss to the Chicago White Sox.

The Cardinals lost two out of three to the White Sox, becoming the first MLB team in 2024 to drop back-to-back home games against the Pale Hose. That's a completely unacceptable result which has to become a wake-up call for a slumberig team going nowhere quickly. The Cardinals are once again in last place in the N.L. Central, several games under .500. The National League — at the moment — has five clear-cut playoff-quality teams, and the Cardinals are not one of them. If St. Louis can't get above the .500 mark by Memorial Day, the Cardinals will face a very steep uphill climb in the summer to try to get into position for the final National League wild card berth.

The New York Mets aren't having as bad a season as the Cardinals are, but they just endured an absolutely brutal weekend against the Tampa Bay Rays. They got swept on Sunday because star closer Edwin Diaz allowed a two-out, game-tying home run to Randy Arozarena in the bottom of the ninth. New York couldn't protect a 5-4 lead and had to go to extra innings. The Mets took a 6-5 lead in the 10th inning but gave it up in the bottom of the 10th, falling 7-6. The Mets have to dust themselves off and bounce back against the struggling Cardinals.

Here are the Mets-Cardinals MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

MLB Odds: Mets-Cardinals Odds

New York Mets: +1.5 (-200)

St. Louis Cardinals: -1.5 (+164)

Over: 8 (-115)

Under: 8 (-105)

How To Watch Mets vs Cardinals

TV: SNY (Mets) / Bally Sports Midwest (Cardinals) / MLB Extra Innings

Stream: MLB.tv

Time: 7:45 p.m. ET/4:45 p.m. PT

*Watch Mets-Cardinals LIVE on fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why The Mets Could Cover The Spread

The Cardinals are a bad team. They just lost two of three at home to the pathetic Chicago White Sox. As noted above, the Cardinals became the first MLB team this year to lose consecutive home games to the White Sox. What's worse for St. Louis is how anemic its offense is. The Cardinals scored a total of nine runs in three games against White Sox pitching at home. If you take away a five-run fifth inning from Saturday's game versus Chicago, the Cardinals scored a total of four runs in 26 of the 27 innings they played against the White Sox. They had a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the bottom of the 10th on Saturday against the Sox and could not score. Situational hitting and crunch-time offense are nowhere to be found for a last-place team. Compared to the Mets, the Cardinals are in much worse shape.

Why The Cardinals Could Cover The Spread

The Cardinals are not good, but the Mets are reeling after their Sunday bullpen woes and their brutal weekend against the Tampa Bay Rays. New York is playing bad baseball, and that's the best reason to go with St. Louis.

Final Mets-Cardinals Prediction & Pick

Neither team is remotely reliable. Stay away from this game.

Final Mets-Cardinals Prediction & Pick: Mets +1.5