MLB Baseball Betting: St. Louis Cardinals at San Francisco Giants

Important game for both teams in their respective divisional races as the St. Louis Cardinals travel West to take on the San Francisco Giants. The Giants have ‘steadied the ship’ somewhat after a rough stretch in late July. They’ve won 3 straight and have split their last ten games but most importantly are just 2.5 games back of the NL West leading Los Angeles Dodgers. They’re also six games clear of the third place Arizona Diamondbacks who at one point appeared poise to be a threat to the Giants. St. Louis, meanwhile, is where they’ve been all season long–in first place in the NL Central. The Cards have been winning–steadily and dependably–all season long. Even so, they just can’t shake the pesky Pittsburgh Pirates who have narrowed the St. Louis advantage to 3.5 games thanks to a torrid 11-3 run. St. Louis hasn’t been playing poorly winning 6 of 10 but that isn’t good enough given the Pirates’ recent form.

St. Louis will start veteran Lance Lynn–the righthander is having a fairly decent season statistically with a 2.94 ERA overall and the Cards are 14-10 +3.2 units overall when he takes the hill. On the road, has a 3.47 ERA but St. Louis is still ‘in the black’ with a 6-5 +1.2 unit record in his starts. He’ll be opposed by right hander Ryan Vogelsong who has a very similar statistical profile to Lynn despite a 3.90 ERA overall. Vogelsong has been mediocre at best overall but he’s been a terror at home with a 2.91 ERA and the Giants have a 6-2 +4 record in his assignments at AT&T Park.

Both teams are banged up at the moment and missing key personnel. The Cards have destroyed right handed pitching this season going 63-31 +25.2 units. That metric notwithstanding, this looks like a fairly evenly matched game. The Cards are a good road team at 36-27 +7.5 units but that’s not sufficient to justify the pricing in this game. Nothing but respect for this Cardinals team–they’re ‘pound for pound’ likely the best team in baseball–but just can’t justify laying this price against a quality opponent. Sports betting is all about value and in a ‘coin flip’ game the play is on the underdog Giants.

BET SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS +135 OVER ST. LOUIS CARDINALS