The St. Louis Cardinals and the Cleveland Guardians meet in interleague action from Progressive Field on Friday night. Let’s dive into the odds, starting pitching matchup, history and make a prediction for this game.
Odds
Cleveland is listed as a -120 home favorite while St. Louis is a +100 road underdog. The total for this game is set at 8 runs.
Starting Pitching Matchup
Matthew Liberatore will start for the Cardinals here and is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA and 7 strikeouts this season. Cleveland will start Shane Bieber here and Bieber is 3-3 with a 3.08 ERA and 47 strikeouts this season.
Matchup History
Cleveland’s 7-2 win over St. Louis back on July 28th, 2021, snapped the Cardinals’ two-game win streak in this head-to-head matchup.
Trends
St. Louis is 13-5 in their last 18 games overall and 5-2 in their last 7 road games while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 series-opening games. Cleveland is 2-6 in their last 8 games against a team with a losing record and 1-5 in their last 6 games overall while the under is 9-2-2 in their last 13 series-opening games.
Pick
I’m backing the under here. I just can’t trust this Guardians offense to produce much of anything in their recent form, and while the Cardinals have been hitting better, I still don’t expect a whole lot off of Shane Bieber here. I could easily see this ending up as a first to 3 wins kind of game, so give me the under here.
