The St. Louis Cardinals visit the Philadelphia Phillies to start a weekend series. It is time to continue our MLB odds series with a Cardinals-Phillies prediction, pick, and how-to-watch.

The Cardinals come into the game after losing two of three to the Pirates this week. They have struggled as of late, winning just two of their last eight games, and four of their last ten. At 56-72, the Cardinals are now 14.5 games back of the Brewers in the division. They are 11 games out of the Wild Card race. The Cardinals are starting to move towards focusing on the next season now, making plans for their future.

Meanwhile, the Phillies took two of three from the Giants and are now 69-58 on the season. They are still well back in the division sitting 13.5 games behind the brave. Still, the Phillies have the top Wild Card Spot in the National League and are looking to make a run back to the playoffs this year.

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

MLB Odds: Cardinals-Phillies Odds

St. Louis Cardinals: +1.5 (-170)

Philadelphia Phillies: -1.5 (+140)

Over: 9.5 (-114)

Under: 9.5 (-106)

How To Watch Cardinals vs. Phillies

TV: BSMW/NBCSP

Stream: MLB.Tv

Time: 7:05 PM ET/ 4:05 PM PT

*Watch MLB games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why The Cardinals Could Cover The Spread

For the Cardinals, they need to pitch better to get wins. They have given up 22 runs in their last three games, and 49 runs in the last seven games. On the year, the Cardinals are 24th in team ERA, 27th in WHIP, and 29th in opponent batting average. The Cardinals send Milke Mikolas to the mound today. He is 6-9 with a 4.55 ERA. This month has not gone great for him. He has made four starts, giving up 16 runs, with 15 earned in 25 innings of work. He has a 5.40 ERA on the month and an 0-3 record.

At the plate, the Cardinals are a little better. They are 14th in the majors in runs scored, eighth in batting average, fifth in on-base percentage, and seventh in slugging. Nolan Arenado is the leader of the offense. He leads the team in batting average, home runs, and RBIs. He is hitting well this month. Arendao is hitting .300 this month with a .349 on-base percentage. He has four home runs and four doubles which has led to ten RBIS. Meanwhile, he has scored 12 times this month.

Richie Palacios has been producing a lot recently. In the last week, he is hitting .412 with a .444 on-base percentage. He has a home run and two doubles, which has led to six RBIs. He has also scored one. Also driving in runs is Paul Goldschmidt. He has a home run and four RBIs with five runs scored in the last week. He is hitting all right, sitting at .286 in the last week, but he is getting one base at a .400 rate. The Cardinals need to capitalize on runners getting on though. They are getting on base at a .328 rate this week, which should be leading to approximately 26 runs, but they have scored just 20 times this week.

Why The Phillies Could Cover The Spread

For the Phillies, they have been scoring well. In their last five games they have scored 36 runs, but only won three of the games. On the year, the Phillies are tied for 11th in runs scored, while sitting seventh in batting average, ninth in on-base percentage, and eighth in slugging. Kyle Schwarber leads the team in home runs and RBIs this year. He has continued that trend this month. Schwarber is hitting just .137 this month but has a .383 on-base percentage. He has seven home runs and a double leading to 16 RBIs. He has also scored 17 times this month.

The batting leader on the team is Bryce Harper, who has a .299 average on the year, good for 11th in the majors. He has hit a home run in each of his last three games and had seven of them in the month. Meanwhile, he is hitting .333 on the month with a .420 on-base percentage. With the help of seven doubles to go along with his home runs, he has 16 RBIs this month while scoring 16 times. While Schwarber and Harper each have seven RBIs in the last week, Trea Turner has added another five. In the last six games, he is hitting .259 with a .301 on-base percentage. He has three home runs, scored six times, and has five RBIs.

As a whole, the Phillies are hitting well. They have hit 16 home runs in the last six games. They also are hitting .303 at the plate, with a .385 on-base percentage, which has led to them scoring those 42 runs.

The Phillies sent Christopher Sanchez to the mound today. He is 1-3 this year with a 3.36 ERA. The month has been fairly average for Sanchez. In his first start, he did give up six runs in five innings, but it was just two earned runs in six innings in the next two. He has a 5.29 ERA this month with a 1-0 record, while the Phillies have won each of his starts. The issue for him has been the long ball. This month he has given up four home runs, and he is averaging just over one home run per every six innings of work this year.

Final Cardinals-Phillies Prediction & Pick

Miles Mikolas is a contact pitcher. He has one of the best walk rates in the league but also has one of the worst strikeout rates in the league. That means, a lot of Phillies bats could be getting the ball tonight. That is not going to go well for him. The Phillies have been slugging near .500 recently, and when they make contact, it can go a long way. With having to go through Schwarber, Turner, and Harper all early in the order, plus Alec Bohm and Nic Castellanos, there are sure to be some home runs tonight. Mikolas has shown, that when he gets hit hard he gets frustrated, and then more balls go down the middle of the plate. If he cannot keep working the corners tonight, he is in for a long start. Take the Phillies in this one.

Final Cardinals-Phillies Prediction & Pick: Phillies -1.5 (+140)