The Toronto Blue Jays and the St. Louis Cardinals meet in MLB action from Busch Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Let’s dive into the odds, starting pitching matchup, history and make a prediction for this game.
Odds
Toronto is listed as a -125 road favorite while St. Louis is a +105 home underdog. The total for this game is set at 7.5 runs.
Starting Pitching Matchup
Kevin Gausman is listed as Toronto’s starter and was 12-10 with a 3.35 ERA and 205 strikeouts last season. St. Louis has Jack Flaherty listed as the starter here and was 2-1 with a 4.25 ERA and 33 strikeouts last season.
Matchup History
Toronto’s 10-9 win over St. Louis in the season opener back on Thursday was Toronto’s 3rd win in the last 4 head-to-head meetings between these two teams.
Trends
Toronto is 4-0 in their last 4 games against the NL Central and 4-0 in Gausman’s last 4 starts against a team with a losing record while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 game two matchups. St. Louis is 38-18 in their last 56 game two matchups and 0-4 in their last 4 games against a team with a right-handed starter while the over is 6-1 in their last 7 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600.
Pick
I’m backing Toronto here. I like the Cardinals and this is an interesting matchup, but I want to see that Jack Flaherty is back on track long term before really investing any stock in him against a Toronto lineup with plenty of pop in the order. On the other side, Kevin Gausman was up and down down the stretch last year, but he’s Toronto’s #2 and when that splitter is on point, he’s extremely hard to hit regardless of the lineup. I think Toronto snags the win here so give me the Blue Jays in this one.