MLB Baseball Betting: St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds
National League Baseball on a short card for Thursday as the St. Louis Cardinals travel to take on the Cincinnati Reds at the Great American Ballpark. The Cardinals are just ‘treading water’ a couple of games over .500 and that’s not going to get it done in the NL Central this year. They’re in third place with a 30-28 record but that’s 11 games out of first in the wake of the mighty Chicago Cubs.
The Cincinnati Reds are in the same division but are close to being out of it already. The Reds are 22-36 which gives them the second worst record in the National League behind only the hapless Atlanta Braves. The sad thing is that record is despite the fact that they’ve been on a nice run lately going 7-3 in their last ten games. That hasn’t changed the fact that they’re in last place in their division or that they’re 19 games out of first place. The Reds also have the dubious distinction of being the worst road team in the National League and tied with Minnesota for the nadir in all of Major League Baseball. Things are better at home where a win in this game would leave them at .500 on the season at the GABP (15-15).
The pitching matchup isn’t a bad one for Cincinnati. The Cardinals will start Adam Wainwright and the veteran right hander hasn’t put up especially good numbers this season. He’s got a 5.40 ERA overall and a 6.55 ERA on the road. The strange thing is that the Cardinals have been a solid winner overall when he’s on the mound despite these less than impressive numbers. St. Louis is 8-4 in Wainwright’s 12 starts including 4-2 on the road. He’ll be opposed by talented young lefthander Brandon Finnegan and he’s in the opposite situation from Wainwright–he’s pitched reasonably well but the Reds have a poor record when he’s on the mound. He’s got a 3.89 ERA overall but the Reds are 3-9 in his starts. He’s put up a solid 2.61 ERA in his last three starts, two of which the Reds lost.
Reds have been competitive with the Cards in recent years and are in better form. We’ll take a shot at the price.
BET CINCINNATI REDS +155 OVER ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
