Nolan Arenado and the St. Louis Cardinals return to Coors Field to square off with the Colorado Rockies in this Tuesday night NL battle! It is time to take a sneak peek at our MLB odds series, where our Cardinals-Rockies prediction and pick will be made.
Here come the Red Birds! With a seven-game winning streak under their belts including a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees over the weekend, St. Louis is without a doubt playing their best ball of the season. Now, the Cardinals sit alone atop their throne in the NL Central with a two-game lead over Milwaukee as well. Getting the start in the thin air of the Mile High City will be right-hander Miles Mikolas, who is 8-8 with a 2.92 ERA on the season.
As for the Rockies, Colorado is fresh off losing two of three games to the Diamondbacks. In what was a battle for the basement of the NL West, the Rockies so far have the upper hand in that fight as they currently sit in dead-last with a 48-63 record, which puts them 28.5 games back of the Dodgers for first place. Making his ninth start of the season is RHP Ryan Feltner, who has compiled a 1-3 record to go along with a 5.75 ERA thus far in 2022.
Here are the Cardinals-Rockies MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Cardinals-Rockies Odds
St. Louis Cardinals: -1.5 (-120)
Colorado Rockies: +1.5 (+100)
Over: 11.5 (-102)
Under: 11.5 (-120)
Why The Cardinals Could Cover The Spread
Boy, have things clicked ever so slightly for this ball club. With a 60-48 record through 108 games, the remaining contests on the regular season schedule will be crucial for the National League Central division race and playoff seeding when the calendar year reads October. Obviously, things will look a little different opponents-wise for the Cardinals on Tuesday, as St. Louis is going from facing off with the best team in the American League to the worst squad out in the NL West.
With the utterly dominant pitching efforts that the ‘Cards have been supplied with recently, it is not a surprise whatsoever that the pitching arms of St. Louis will play a big role in the outcome of Tuesday's contest. Conversely, the Cardinals' back-to-back series sweeps included only surrendering eight runs in those six games combined before the high-scoring series finale against the Yankees. With the pitching staff firing at all cylinders, the Cardinals automatically give themselves an advantage. Miles Mikolas would also like to reverse the trend of him struggling in his pair of starts in Denver. He is 1-0 with an 8.44 ERA in those starts in Denver.
Sunday's shootout saw New York and St. Louis combine for 21 runs, as in the midst of the Cardinals' pitching prowess, they also reminded the baseball world that they can surely swing the lumber. The most dangerous Red Bird on Sunday came from no other than Nolan Arenado, who went 3-5 with four RBIs in the contest. Returning to Coors Field always seems to bring out the best in Arenado, so expect the eight-time Gold Glover to inflict some damage upon his former team this evening.
Why The Rockies Could Cover The Spread
Colorado has had some low points in their now almost 30-year-old franchise, but the Rockies seem to be slowly but surely sliding into irrelevancy as each day of the season passes. To make matters worse, the Rockies managed to make little to zero moves as the MLB trade deadline approached. Instead, a pizza party was thrown within the organization's front office to celebrate… well, nothing exactly? The bewildering passive approach that the Rockies have conducted their business by is no surprise nearly three decades later, as the product on the field is a direct correlation to the lack of care to put a winning team together. Now sitting at 48-63, it seems all but likely that another season is down the toilet.
Regardless of how poorly run this organization is, (remember when Colorado traded Nolan Arenado AND gave St. Louis $50 million dollars as well?), the Rockies have actually been a tough team to beat at home. Whether you can contribute that to the altitude making opposing players get more fatigued, or Dinger the purple dinosaur mascot of the Rockies striking fear into teams, Colorado has reeled off a 30-27 record so far this season at Coors Field.
Another element that Colorado has excelled at has been at the plate. With the second-highest batting average in the league, Colorado has punished mistakes thrown by pitchers and has made the most of their opportunities with the sticks.
The pitching has no doubt been as bad as it gets with the third-highest ERA in the majors at 4.96, but maybe Ryan Feltner will throw the ‘Cards off of their game with the lack of experience against him.
Final Cardinals-Rockies Prediction & Pick
At first glance and on paper, the Cardinals shouldn't have any trouble in this one. Other than the fact that the Rockies could explode offensively, Colorado is far too inconsistent in other areas of their game. St. Louis cruises to an easy spread covering victory in this one.
Final Cardinals-Rockies Prediction & Pick: Cardinals -1.5 (-120)
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