It is a battle of last-place teams as the St. Louis Cardinals face the Washington Nationals. It is time to continue our MLB odds series with a Cardinals-Nationals prediction, pick, and how-to-watch.
The Cardinals broke their six-game losing streak over the weekend and then took two of three games over the Mets. Nolan Arenado hit two home runs on Sunday to give the Cardinals the win and take the series over the Mets. It was their first series win since May 18-21 when they took two of three over the Dodgers. The Cardinals now sit at 29-43, good for last place in the NL Central.
Meanwhile, the Nationals are coming off being swept by the Miami Marlins. The Nats have now lost five of their last six games overall and find themselves at 27-43 for the season. After a streak of positive plays, the Nationals have struggled as of late. They have lost 14 of their last 17 games overall, and continue to fall further behind in the NL East.
Here are the Cardinals-Nationals MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Cardinals-Nationals Odds
St. Louis Cardinals: -1.5 (+102)
Washington Nationals: +1.5 (-122)
Over: 9.5 (-110)
Under: 9.5 (-110)
How To Watch Cardinals vs. Nationals
TV: BSMW/MASN
Stream: MLB.TV
Time: 4:05 PM ET/ 1:05 PM PT
*Watch MLB games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why The Cardinals Could Cover The Spread
Over the last two games, the offense has put out some solid run support. They scored 13 runs in the two wins, over their season average. The offense has been fairly average all season long. The Cardinals rank 12th in runs scored on the year. They are 16th in batting average, 14th in on-base percentage, and 12th in slugging. It was Nolan Arenado who had three RBIs and two home runs in the game yesterday to give the Cardinals a win. It gives him six home runs this month with 12 RBIs. He is batting over .310 on the month as well and is getting hot.
Paul Goldschmidt drove in two more runs in the win as well. He now has nine RBIs this month and two home runs. Goldschmidt is batting .279 on the month now, and continuing to get extra-base hits. He has three doubles and two home runs on the month while scoring seven times. Jordan Walker also continues his hot hitting this month. He went 1-3 in the Sunday game and is hitting .327 on the month. In that time he has three home runs and seven RBIs.
Jack Flaherty is on the mound today for the Cardinals. He is 3-5 on the year with a 4.64 ERA. His first two starts of June were solid. He went 11.1 innings and gave up just one run in the game. The last time out was a disaster though. He went just 4.1 innings, giving up ten hits and six runs. It was his second-worst start of the year, behind giving up ten runs in 2.1 innings in his first start of May.
Why The Nationals Could Cover The Spread
The Nationals allowed the Marlins to beat them in all three games, and in the process, the Marlins are now ten games over .500 for the first time in over a decade. Meanwhile, the Nationals are on pace for just 62 wins, which would be an improvement over last year, but their second-worst record since 2009. The Nationals are hitting fairly well this year. They are sitting seventh in batting average on the season, but they still sit in the bottom third of the league in runs. There is hope for a turnaround. This is the youngest average age of offensive players for this franchise since 1999, according to baseball reference. That year, as the Montreal Expos, they went 68-94.
Joey Meneses has been playing well recently. He went 4-11 in the series against the Marlins with three RBIs. Meneses has six RBIs on the month with a .279 batting average in that time frame. He still is without a home run, but that should come soon. Dominic Smith is also hitting well this month. While he went 0-8 in his last two games of the Miami series, he is having a good month. He has had a five-game hitting streak this month and five multi-hit games. He is hitting over .270 on the month with an OBP over .300.
Josiah Gray takes the hill for the Nationals today. He is 4-5 on the year with a 3.19 ERA. His last start was not his best. He went seven innings but have up four runs with two home runs. It was the second time this month he gave up four runs in a game. In May, Gray allowed 2 or fewer runs in four of five games, with the other being three runs over five innings.
Final Cardinals-Nationals Prediction & Pick
The Nats have not had the best pitching all year, but Josiah Gray has been solid. He lost his first four starts of the year while getting just one run of support in 21.2 innings. The young offense has figured things out since then. Gray has only lost once since then. Meanwhile, Flaherty has been the epitome of average. Minus two starts this year, he is almost guaranteed to go six innings and give up a few runs. The offense for the Nationals hits better but does not score as well. Still, with the two pitchers on the mound, expect a close game and take the runs overall.
Final Cardinals-Nationals Prediction & Pick: Nationals +.15 (-122)
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