After a day off on Thursday, the Yankees and Cardinals return to action for a three-game set this weekend.
It’s the first time these teams will play each other this season.
New York is a -137 favorite, while St. Louis is +113 on DraftKings Sportsbook. The game total is set at over/under nine runs.
Here’s my prediction and pick for Friday’s Yankees vs. Cardinals matchup.
Yankees vs. Cardinals prediction
For a brief moment, it seemed that the Yankees were back on track. Two straight wins against the Twins was promising, but then they lost the series finale against Joe Ryan, the Twins’ top starter.
It’s one thing to beat struggling teams and pitchers. It’s a whole other thing to take down good squads. Luckily for the Yankees, the Cardinals aren’t much better than the Twins.
Andre Pallante is starting for St. Louis and owns a 4.95 ERA through 123.2 innings. He’s not much of a strikeout pitcher, but he could find a little more success tonight against the strikeout-heavy Yankees. That is, of course, if he stays in the game long enough.
Pallante’s last start was disastrous. He allowed six earned runs on seven hits in 1.2 innings against the Cubs. It’s hard to get worse than that, but he did have three starts allowing five or more earned runs in July.
Although the Yankees aren’t winning games consistently, they’re still scoring against weaker pitchers.
Luis Gil starts for New York tonight after making his season debut in early August. He’s mostly struggled, but it’s a small sample size after he dealt with an injury for the majority of the season.
Yankees vs. Cardinals pick, best bet
New York begins a five-game road trip tonight, and it’ll look to kick it off with a victory. Pallante vs. Gil isn’t the most exciting pitching duel, so it’ll likely come down to which offense performs better.
Despite recent struggles, the Yankees should come out on top.