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

The Arizona Diamondbacks and St. Louis Cardinals meet in the rubber game of their three-game weekend series in Phoenix. The Cardinals won a wild game on Friday night, getting a 6-0 lead, blowing all of it, and then breaking a 6-6 tie before adding two runs later on for a 9-6 win. Saturday, the Diamondbacks fought back for a 4-2 win. Arizona broke a 1-1 tie with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. The Cardinals scored one in the eighth but got no closer. St. Louis rapped out 11 hits but left plenty of runners on base and ultimately couldn't get the big knock, the opposite of Friday's victory.

The Cardinals have not hit consistently to start their season. They have struggled a lot over the past week in multiple losses to the Philadelphia Phillies and again in this Saturday loss to the D-Backs. The Cardinals know they do not have elite pitching. They struggled to pitch well last year and had a bullpen which imploded a lot. This year's bullpen has already suffered a few breakdowns, and more are likely to come. The Cardinals need an offense which produces at such a high level that the limitations and weaknesses of the pitching rotation and bullpen will not hijack the season. So far, through two and a half weeks, the Cardinals haven't generally risen to that standard, certainly not often enough to meet the team's goal of returning to the postseason. The Cardinals were a losing team last year, a distinct rarity for a franchise which has been one of the more consistent winners in Major League Baseball over the past 20 years. In order to make a significant improvement and play meaningful baseball in late September, the offense has to dramatically pick up the pace and improve its day-to-day output.

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

MLB Odds: Cardinals-Diamondbacks Odds

St Louis Cardinals: +1.5 (-156)

Arizona Diamondbacks: -1.5 (+130)

Over: 9 (-105)

Under: 9 (-115)

How To Watch Cardinals vs. Diamondbacks

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

Stream: MLB.tv

Time: 4:10 p.m. ET/1:10 p.m. PT

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

Why The Cardinals Could Cover The Spread

The Diamondbacks have been just as inconsistent as the Cardinals, with both teams starting the season 7-8 through the first 15 games. If you were to say right now that Arizona will have a better record than St. Louis at the end of the regular season, you would get a lot of agreement. However, that's a long-term future forecast. Right now, are these teams really any different? Is Arizona empirically better than St. Louis? It's hard to say so when the teams have the same records and just split the first two games of the series, with the Cardinals actually having a plus-one run differential (11 runs to 10) in the two games. St. Louis has Miles Mikolas, a solid starting pitcher, on the bump. The Cardinals are getting, not giving, a run and a half on the run line. They have a very decent chance of covering.

Why The Diamondbacks Could Cover The Spread

The Diamondbacks have staff ace Zac Gallen on the mound. Gallen has made a run at the National League Cy Young Award in each of the past two seasons. He finished third last year, the product of some elite outings which helped the Diamondbacks make the postseason. Gallen is a workhorse who has managed to pitch deeper into games and get more high-leverage outs for his team. It's hard to bet against — and distrust — Gallen. By extension, it's hard to bet against Arizona in this game, especially at home, where he has been lights-out in recent years.

Final Cardinals-Diamondbacks Prediction & Pick

The Diamondbacks have Zac Gallen. The Cardinals don't. Take Arizona.

Final Cardinals-Diamondbacks Prediction & Pick: Diamondbacks -1.5