MLB Baseball Betting: St. Louis Cardinals at Miami Marlins

The St. Louis Cardinals will try to maintain their six game advantage over the NL Central on Tuesday night as they travel to South Florida to take on the Miami Marlins. St. Louis has been in ‘cruise control’ for most of the season and until recently none of their divisional rivals did much to get in their way. Now the Pittsburgh Pirates have started to play well winning 7 of their last 10 games. That’s great and all, but since the Cards have also won 7 of their last 10 they’ve not been able to cut into the Redbirds’ advantage.

Miami has been trying to get back in the ‘lead pack’ in the NL East but so far with little success. They’ve split their last 10 games but have lost four of five. That leaves them 9.5 games back of the division leading Washington Nationals but still 5.5 games back of the third place Atlanta Braves. They’ve got a decent margin over the hapless last place Philadelphia Phillies (6.5 games). Miami will start Jose Urena who has been very solid of late with a 1.93 ERA in his last three assignments–two of which were Miami wins.

St. Louis will counter with right hander Carlos Martinez who has been a rock in the Cards’ rotation. Martinez has a 2.84 ERA in thirteen starts where St. Louis has a 10-3 record. The Cards just keep cruising along but know they have to keep winning with some of their rivals starting to come to life. Miami isn’t a particularly good home team with a record of 17-17 for a -4 unit loss on the season. They have won 4 of the last six meetings against St. Louis in Florida though none of these games have been played this season.

Miami is a mediocre at best team facing a legitimate World Series contender. We like Urena and the thought of getting him at ‘plus money’ is enticing but we don’t have the same enthusiasm about the rest of the Marlins. We’d rather lay the road price with the dependable and consistent road team. St. Louis keeps on cruising along and keeps their NL Central rivals well in the rear view mirror.

BET ST. LOUIS CARDINALS -130 OVER MIAMI MARLINS