The San Francisco Giants take on the St. Louis Cardinals. Check out our MLB odds series for our Giants Cardinals prediction and pick.
Carlos Rodon gets the ball for the Giants, while Adam Wainwright takes the hill for the Cardinals on Sunday Night Baseball.
Carlos Rodon is pitching like an ace. With a 1.80 ERA, Rodon is dominating National League hitting. The ace-like aspect of his pitching extends to his workload. Rodon has pitched six full innings or better in four of his six starts. He is eating up innings and setting up the game for the back end of the San Francisco bullpen. He is reducing the strain on the pen and doing exactly what an ace should do. This is part of the backdrop to any Giants Cardinals prediction you might make, based on the current MLB odds.
Rodon isn't the only ace in the ballyard for this game. Though Miles Mikolas is having a better season, Adam Wainwright owns and deserves the complete trust of Cardinal coaches, players and fans. He has a solid 3.18 ERA based on rough outings on April 14 and 24. In his other four starts, Wainwright has either lodged a quality start (at least six innings pitched, no more than three runs allowed) or come one out short of that standard. He went 5 2/3 innings and allowed just one run in a game on April 19. Waino, at age 40, is still a high-level big-league pitcher. The Cardinals want him to get the ball in a big game. They want him to oppose an elite hurler such as Carlos Rodon. This is a portion of the context you need when making a Giants Cardinals pick.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Giants-Cardinals MLB odds.
MLB Odds: Giants-Cardinals Odds
San Francisco Giants: -1.5 (+126)
St. Louis Cardinals: +1.5 (-152)
Over: 7 (-120)
Under: 7 (-102)
*Watch MLB Games LIVE with fuboTV (click for free trial)
Why The Giants Could Cover the Spread
Carlos Rodon is pitching like an ace. That's the cornerstone of a Giants pick against the spread. Rodon should be able to go at least six innings and hold the Cardinals to no more than two runs. He should be able to give the Giants a lead heading into the seventh, and the bullpen can do the rest. The Giants Cardinals odds favor the Giants for a reason.
Also, the Giants — who had been a hot-hitting team for several games — were shut down on Saturday by the Cardinals. After a bad game, expect San Francisco's hitters to bounce back. They are not in the prolonged slump they suffered from a few weeks ago. They hit a rut, and they should be able to quickly readjust in this game on Sunday.
Why The Cardinals Could Cover the Spread
After winning on Saturday, the Cardinals have a chance to win this series. They are looking at the National League Central and seeing the Brewers struggle against the Reds and Marlins (Milwaukee trailed Miami 3-1 in the fourth inning when this article was published). The Cardinals know that if they can win a series against the Giants, they would do something Milwaukee would be hard-pressed to achieve later in the season. This is a leverage game in the division race, the kind of game which could make the difference when we count the games back (or ahead) in the standings in late September.
Final Giants-Cardinals Prediction & Pick
Two great pitchers will go at it, but the over-under of seven runs is appropriately low, so stay away from that one. Go with the Giants, who are likely to score a few runs — not a ton, but some — and scratch out a victory.
Final Giants Cardinals Prediction & Pick: Giants -1.5
Follow Us
Subscribe