Friday’s MLB slate is already rolling, but one of the more intriguing matchups takes place in the evening window. Tonight, the San Francisco Giants (71-69) look to keep their recent hot streak rolling in the quest for an NL Wild Card spot against the St. Louis Cardinals (70-71). There are high stakes involved for both of these squads, so get those betting cards ready and settle in for a fun night of baseball.
Here’s a Cardinals vs. Giants prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook for today’s action.
Cardinals vs. Giants prediction, preview
Tonight’s matchup pits a scorching San Francisco squad which won nine of its last 10 games on deck against a St. Louis team which sits 6-4 across the same sample. Each are seeking a Wild Card berth, with the Giants four games back of the Mets for the final spot while the Cardinals hope to sneak in at 5.5 games back themselves. There’s plenty left to play for with the home stretch of the regular season now winding down, so tonight’s game holds legitimate implications for the postseason future of both of these franchises.
However, they’re playing two different brands of baseball at the moment. Over the last two weeks, the Giants have scored 90 runs — the second-most of any team — behind a revitalized offense headlined by Rafael Devers, who’s finally found his stride as a star in this lineup. As a team over that sample, San Francisco boasts the second-best batting average and OPS in the sport at .300 and .897. They’ve also seen power bats wake up with 27 homers in that span, again the second-most of any team, and they’ve struck out the sixth-fewest times.
That’s a real recipe for success, especially against a Cardinals lineup which ranks 24th in scoring with just 48 runs over the last 15 days. St Louis’ bats haven’t played well whatsoever really, falling third-worst in average and OPS at .212 and .636. With just a .355 slugging percentage, they’re not turning hits into extra bases and have mashed just 13 homers as well, tied for sixth-fewest. The offense just isn’t clicking at this point, and that probably won’t change with Willson Contreras serving the first game of a suspension tonight. The Cardinals were honestly lucky to escape with series wins against the Athletics and Reds in their last two sets, and things look rough heading into this one.
Cardinals vs. Giants pick, best bet
DraftKings Sportsbook lists the Cardinals as -121 Moneyline favorites at home in this one while the Giants come in as -101 underdogs. The run total sits at 8.5 for the matchup.
On the mound for the St. Louis tonight is second-year right-hander Michael McGreevy (4.17 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 40 SO). He’s thrown just 69 innings this season with some up and down outings while arguably outperforming his xERA of 4.70. While he doesn’t strike batters out much with just a third-percentile K%, he does possess elite control with a 99th-percentile BB%. He faces San Francisco rookie Carson Seymour (4.74 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 18 SO), whose sample size remains even smaller at 24.2 innings after debuting back in June and primarily throwing out of the bullpen. Seymour does see great average fastball velocity at 96.3 mph while forcing lots of ground balls, but he grades out poorly in most advanced metrics, especially a 7.30 xERA.
The battle on the bump tonight doesn’t spark a ton of confidence for either side, but St. Louis does seem to hold an advantage in that regard. Unfortunately for the Redbirds, their bats haven’t produced much run support, which they’ll absolutely need tonight against one of the MLB’s hottest lineups. With the momentum San Francisco brings into the matchup, it’s difficult to see this game ending any other way but another dominant win for the Giants as they keep rolling towards that final NL Wild Card spot. The plus odds on the run line feel nice.
Best bet: SF Giants -1.5 (+158)
Click the odds on this bet to tail!
