A pair of National League afterthoughts who are well out of the playoff race will meet up for play on Saturday as the New York Mets do battle with the St. Louis Cardinals. Check out our MLB odds series where our Mets-Cardinals prediction and pick will be revealed for all to see.

Despite the season-long struggles that have left them with a 57-66 record overall, the New York Mets have won three consecutive games and are officially on a roll halfway through the month of August. At the moment, the Mets trail the Braves by an unimaginable 23 games in the division after winning at least 100 games a year ago. In line for the Saturday start to try and make it four straight victories will be RHP Kodai Senga who is 9-6 with a 3.30 ERA in 22 starts on the season.

Similarly enough to the Mets, the St. Louis Cardinals are another team that entered the 2023 season with fairly lofty expectations and even made it to the postseason last year but unfortunately fell flat on their faces. Lately, the Cardinals have lost three in a row including the first two outings against the Mets in which they have been outscored 11-3 in the series. With the hopes of getting his squad back on track, it will end up being starter Miles Mikolas that will take the mound with his 6-8 record and 4.27 ERA.

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

MLB Odds: Mets-Cardinals Odds

New York Mets: -1.5 (+142)

St. Louis Cardinals: +1.5 (-172)

Over: 8.5 (-115)

Under: 8.5 (-105)

How To Watch Mets vs. Cardinals

TV: Bally Sports Midwest

Stream: MLB.TV

Time: 7:15 ET/4:15 PT

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

Why The Mets Could Cover The Spread

Above all else, the best chance that the Mets have at covering the spread will come in the form of a continued ferocious offensive attack that has been difficult for the Cardinals to slow down so far in this series. In fact, on Friday night, it was Jeff McNeil that paved the way for the Mets as his three-run shot in the 7th inning put the Mets up for good.

Not only will more offense need to be in store to take this series from St. Louis and cover the spread in the meantime, but taking advantage when they have men on base will end up being critical as well. As a whole, New York hasn't been near the top of the league in hitting by any means, but during their winning streak, they have been quite effective with RISP. After going 3-10 against the Red Birds on Friday and 2-5 in the game prior, finding success in this department will no doubt translate to success on the scoreboard.

Indeed, it also helps your odds to cover when your projected starting pitcher has won his last two starts. In his line start versus the Cardinals this season, Senga managed to strike out eight hitters but did allow four runs on five hits in the loss. Can Senga do just enough to get his revenge on St. Louis?

Why The Cardinals Could Cover The Spread

One look at this team as a whole and you begin to scratch your head and question why this squad isn't currently in the race for a playoff spot. Undoubtedly, inconsistency has plagued St. Louis all year long especially out on the mound. Although the ‘Cards are plenty talented on offense, St. Louis pitching has been a shell of their former selves this summer compared to previous seasons as hitters are raking a collective .273 against them and have accumulated a lofty 4.57 ERA in the process.

All in all, the formula in this contest is quite simple for the Cardinals as they have to find ways to get Mikolas in a groove early. Believe it or not, Mikolas has not won a start since July 17th. For Mikolas' sake, the 34-year-old veteran arm will need to throw strikes from the jump to establish some sort of rhythm and a sense of confidence that he can easily go toe-to-toe with a sizzling offense at the moment.

In addition to Mikolas needing to be on his A-game, the greatness of Nolan Arenado cannot be denied. It is also safe to say that Nolan is rollin'. With a .308 batting average and three homers in the last 15 days, it wouldn't be a surprise whatsoever if Arenado paved the way for the offense in a big way at the plate to kick off the weekend.

Final Mets-Cardinals Prediction & Pick

Although this one isn't as important as it might've been when we first looked at this series in the beginning of the season, both teams are desperately playing for pride and could use a win more than anything. Unless the Mets cool off dramatically at the plate, it is hard not to imagine that their red-hot ways will continue at Busch Stadium for the third-straight contest.

Final Mets-Cardinals Prediction & Pick: Mets -1.5 (+142)