The St. Louis Cardinals have climbed to the top of the NL Central and are a team that should be watched throughout their stretch run.
SportsGrid will follow the Cards closely over the final two months of the MLB season and offer a weekly update, which has plenty of betting implications on the line for how things finish out in the two-horse race NL Central. Not only will we be looking toward their upcoming series, but we’ll also be tracking their divisional odds, playoff odds, and World Series odds along the way.
This week in St. Louis Cardinals action:
The Red Birds open a series with the Colorado Rockies tonight, which has them as a big favorite with Miles Mikolas taking the hill.
St. Louis Cardinals (-184) vs. Colorado Rockies (+156)The Cardinals are sizable favorites to win their series with the Rockies at -184. Winners of seven straight games, the Cards are one of the hottest teams in baseball and warrant consideration after upgrading their rotation at the trade deadline. With a home run heavy offense, the Cards should feast at Coors Field, meaning siding with the favorites in this series makes a lot of sense, even if the value isn’t necessarily there.
NL Central Odds: St. Louis Cardinals (-210) to win the divisionSince the All-Star break, the Cardinals have been playing some inspiring baseball and now lead the NL Central by two games entering action tonight. Their most significant threat to the division is the Milwaukee Brewers. Still, with the Cards upgrading their biggest flaw, rotational depth, at the deadline, there’s a reason they are sizable favorites to capture the division crown at -210.
Playoff Odds: St. Louis Cardinals (-340) to qualify for the postseasonWith three Wild Card teams in each league now prevalent, postseason odds increased for certain teams this year, and with under two months left in the schedule, the odds suggest it would be a surprise for the Cardinals to miss the postseason. Their current odds to make the big dance is listed at -340, and even though there’s no value in that number, it’s something you should be confident in, especially if you got the number at a point when the team was struggling over a month ago.
World Series Odds: St. Louis Cardinals (+3500) to win outrightThe Cardinals currently have the ninth highest World Series odds this season at +3500. Their offense is a selling point of this team, and with an improved rotation, things are looking up for them in the futures market. A big wild card for this team could be the impending return down the stretch of Jack Flaherty. If he can stay healthy and pitch as he has throughout his big league career, the Cardinals could be a substantial bargain with their current odds, meaning it’s not a bad idea to look in their direction at the moment.