The Los Angeles Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals meet in MLB action from Busch Stadium on Friday night. Let’s dive into the odds, starting pitching matchup, history and make a prediction for this game.
Odds
The Dodgers are -140 road favorites while the Cardinals are +120 home underdogs. The total for this game is set at 8.5 runs.
Starting Pitching Matchup
Tony Gonsolin will start for the Dodgers and he is 1-1 with a 1.42 ERA and 16 strikeouts this season. Steven Matz will start for the Cardinals and is 0-4 with a 5.62 ERA and 37 strikeouts this season.
Matchup History
St. Louis’ 16-8 win over the Dodgers on Thursday snapped Los Angeles’ four-game win streak in this head-to-head matchup.
Trends
Los Angeles is 4-1 in their last 5 road games and 95-42 in their last 137 games overall while the over is 9-3 in their last 12 games against the NL Central. St. Louis is 5-1 in their last 6 games overall and 6-13 in their last 19 home games while the over is 8-1-1 in their last 10 home games against a team with a right-handed starter.
Pick
I’m backing the Dodgers here. It’s a scary proposition to fade the Cardinals after the offensive explosion on Thursday, but Tony Gonsolin has been solid and really hasn’t given up a whole lot this season. On the other side, I don’t trust Steven Matz as far as I can throw him and I don’t feel like this is a great spot for him either against a Dodgers team that’s really started to find their way in the last couple of weeks against left-handed pitching. All in all, I’m looking for a fairly competitive game, but a game the Dodgers end up coming out on top in.
