Toronto Blue Jays (0-0) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (0-0)
March 30, 2023 4:10 pm EDT
The Line: St. Louis Cardinals -132 / Toronto Blue Jays -105; Over/Under: +7.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Toronto Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals meet Thursday in MLB action at Busch Stadium. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.
The Toronto Blue Jays have made the playoffs in 2 of the last 3 years and enter this season as a dark horse title contender. The Blue Jays kept the core of their elite offense intact while adding Daulton Varsho, Brandon Belt and Kevin Kiermaier to provide depth. The bullpen got better with the addition of Erik Swanson and Chris Bassitt makes the starting rotation better. The Toronto Blue Jays are stacked on paper and will in the thick of the AL East race all year. Alek Manoah gets the ball, and he was 16-7 with a 2.24 ERA and 180 strikeouts last season. This will be Manoah’s first career game against the Cardinals.
The St. Louis Cardinals have made the playoffs 4 straight years and are the betting favorites to win the NL Central. For the most part, the Cardinals are the same team they were a season ago, but the addition of catcher Willson Contreras makes them even better. The Cardinals are a top-10 offensive team and a 1-3 starting rotation of Miles Mikolas, Jack Flaherty and Jordan Montgomery can go toe-to-toe with most. The Cardinals should make the postseason for a fifth straight season. Miles Mikolas gets the ball, and he was 12-13 with a 3.29 ERA and 153 strikeouts last season. This will be Mikolas’ second career game against the Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays are 19-7 in their last 26 road games and 4-1 in their last 5 interleague games. The Cardinals are 40-19 in their last 59 home games and 1-5 in their last 6 overall. The under is 4-1 in Blue Jays last 5 interleague games. The over is 6-1 in Cardinals last 7 Thursday games. The over is 6-1 in the last 7 meetings.
This is one of the better opening day games on a stacked Thursday. The St. Louis Cardinals should be favored because they’re at home and Miles Mikolas on the mound is intriguing. With that said, you can argue the Toronto Blue Jays are the better team overall, and you’re not going to get Alek Manoah as underdogs often. Toss up, must watch game between two dark horse contenders. I’ll take the cheaper price in the Blue Jays.
