Even if you’re just a casual baseball bettor, you know that most teams have needed Siri’s help to find home plate this season. The St. Louis Cardinals certainly can relate.
Since scoring 25 runs in their first four games against two of baseball’s worst teams (Pirates and Royals), St. Louis has touched home plate 35 times in their last 10 contests. And that includes a 10-1 blowout of Milwaukee. Remove that April 15 result, and the Cardinals have averaged 2.8 runs in their last nine.
Now comes this Monday treat for Redbirds hitters: a date with Max Scherzer.
The New York Mets’ unquestioned ace (at least as long as Jacob deGrom remains sidelined) is undefeated through three starts. Which is why he’s a sizeable road favorite in the Mets vs Cardinals odds market Monday.
Can Mad Max pick up his fourth straight win in as many starts with the Mets? Or will the Cardinals scratch across enough runs and make enough pitches to avoid their first two-game losing skid of the season?
Props.com dives into Mets vs Cardinals odds and ends in our betting preview of Monday’s top NL matchup.
Odds via WynnBet and updated as of 5:30 p.m. ET on April 25.
New York Mets (12-5) vs St. Louis Cardinals (9-5)
First Pitch/TV: 7:45 p.m. ET/MLB Network & MLB.TV
Moneyline: Mets -155/Cardinals +145
Run Line: Mets -1.5 (+105)/Cardinals +1.5 (-125)
Total: 6.5 (Over -125/Under +105)
Pitching matchup: RHP Max Scherzer (3-0, 2.50 ERA, 0.89 WHIP) vs RHP Miles Mikolas (1-0, 1.76 ERA, 1.04 WHIP)
Season series: First meeting. St. Louis won last year’s season series 5-2, part of an ongoing 10-3 run against the Mets. The visitor won each of the final five head-to-head meetings in 2021.
Did you know: Following the three-game series in St. Louis, the Mets will finally get a scheduled day off Thursday. New York was slated to play 20 straight games to start the season, but a home rainout against the Giants last Monday led to a double-header Tuesday.
About the Mets
Hits & Misses: New York arrives in St. Louis with an MLB-best 12 victories, having won all five series to this point. The Mets lead the NL East by four games over Miami. They were in Phoenix over the weekend, taking two of three from the Diamonbacks, capped by Sunday’s 6-2 victory. Since dropping consecutive games in Washington and Philadelphia on April 10-11 — its only two-game slide to date — New York is 9-3, including 4-1 on the road. Offensively, the Mets rank fourth in MLB in hits per game (8.59), fourth in batting (.256) and seventh in runs per game (4.76). The pitching staff is second in ERA (2.78), WHIP (1.01), opponents’ batting average (.197) and hits per nine innings (6.39), and third in strikeouts per nine innings (10.07).
On the Mound: Scherzer was spectacular in Tuesday’s 1-0 home victory over the Giants in the nightcap of a doubleheader. He yielded just one run on one hit with three walks and 10 strikeouts in seven innings. In his last two trips to the hill, Scherzer has allowed two runs and 12 baserunners (6 hits, 6 walks) while striking out 17 over 12 innings. The three-time Cy Young winner faced the Cardinals three times last year — once with Washington and twice with Los Angeles, including starting the one-game NL playoff. In those three games, he gave up two runs (one earned) on 13 hits and four walks with 26 strikeouts in 18.1 innings. Scherzer is 4-6 with a 2.76 ERA in 13 career regular-season starts against the Cardinals (3-2, 2.04 ERA in six starts in St. Louis).
Key injuries: RP Sean Reid-Foley (leg) is day-to-day. Otherwise, the Mets are healthy.
About the Cardinals
Hits & Misses: St. Louis failed to complete a three-game weekend sweep in Cincinnati, falling 4-1 on Sunday. The Cardinals wrapped up their 10-game road trip with a 6-4 record, splitting a four-game series in Milwaukee before taking two of three each in Miami and Cincinnati. As noted above, St. Louis has yet to lose back-to-back games this season, but also has yet to win more than two in a row. Like most teams early on, the Cardinals have been getting it done with pitching. The staff owns a top-five MLB ranking in runs (41, 2nd); allowed (105, 2nd); bullpen ERA (1.95, 2nd); home runs (9, T-2nd); walks (42, 4th); and team ERA (2.88, 5th). 3B Nolan Arenado ranks second among all hitters in OPS (1.153) and fourth in batting average (.364). St. Louis enters Monday tied with the Brewers top the NL Central.
On the Mound: Mikolas has allowed three runs, 13 hits and three walks in his first three starts, all Cardinals victories. The right-hander’s best outing was his most recent in Miami, where he limited the Marlins to four hits in five shutout innings, getting a no-decision in his team’s 2-0 win. In his last six starts going back to September, Mikolas has surrendered just 10 runs in 33.2 innings (2.67 ERA). His only start against the Mets was in April 2019, and he allowed two runs in eight innings of a 10-2 home victory.
Key injuries: The Cardinals have no new injuries to report.
Notable Trends
- NYM is on runs of 5-1 vs. right-handed SPs and 6-1 in series openers
- NYM 0-7 in its last seven vs. the NL Central
- STL is on runs of 11-4 at home, 13-4 as an underdog and 10-2 in series openers
- Under is 17-8-2 in NYM’s last 27 road games
- Under for STL is on runs of 6-0 overall, 3-0-1 at home and 5-0 vs. right-handed SPs
- Over is 11-3-2 in the last 16 series meetings
- Over is 6-1-1 in the last nine Mets-Cardinals battles in STL
New York Mets vs St. Louis Cardinals Odds and Action
UPDATE 5:30 P.M. ET MONDAY: WynnBet opened Scherzer and Co. as -141 favorites in the Mets vs Cardinals odds market. By Sunday evening, New York stretched a few cents to -149, but by late Sunday night was down to -135. Today, however, the Mets are on the rebound, peaking at -159 late this morning and now sitting at -155.
New York is landing 71% of moneyline cash, but a more nominal 60% of moneyline dollars. WynnBet customers seem more inclined to play Mets runline -1.5, which shifted from +120 to +110, with New York attracting 67% of bets and practically every dollar in that market.
The total opened at a tidy 7 Sunday afternoon and has been at various iterations of that number since then. Currently, the total is 7 (Under -130), with 54% of tickets on the Over, but a healthy 87% of cash on the Under.
UPDATE 2 P.M. ET MONDAY: Scherzer and New York opened as a -125 favorite on DraftKings’ Mets vs Cardinals odds board Sunday afternoon, with St. Louis +125 on the take-back. The line has risen steadily since, to Mets -130, -135, -145, -150, -155 and now -165. Currently, St. Louis is at +145. As of 12:45 p.m. ET, The total 78% of the early wagers and 85% of the early money was on New York. The total opened at 6.5 (Over -120) and has since toggled between 6.5 and 7. It slipped back to 6.5 early this morning, with -125 juice to the Over. There’s early two-way action on the total, with 68% of all bets on the Over but 62% of the cash on the Under.
Check back prior to first pitch for additional Mets vs Cardinals odds and action updates.
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