The St. Louis Cardinals have climbed to the top of the NL Central and are a team to watch through the season’s final stretch.
SportsGrid will follow the Cards closely over the final two months of the MLB season and offer a weekly update from the FanDuel Sportsbook, which has plenty of betting implications for how things finish out in the two-horse NL Central race. Not only will we be looking toward their upcoming series but also tracking their divisional, playoff, and World Series odds along the way.
This week is set to see the Cardinals take on the Milwaukee Brewers for a two-game series at home before continuing their home stand against the Cincinnati Reds for a five-game set.
In addition to the Cardinals finding team success of late, Albert Pujols took sole possession of fourth place on the all-time home run list on Sunday with 697 career long balls.
NL Central Odds: Cardinals to Win NL Central (Off the board) (Last week: -10000)The St. Louis Cardinals had another week where they posted a winning record, splitting a four-game series with the Washington Nationals and concluding their week by taking two-of-three games from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Entering action on Monday, the Cardinals lead the NL Central by eight games over the Milwaukee Brewers. If the Cardinals can salvage a split or sweep the two games against Milwaukee this week, it’s hard to see the Brewers digging out this hole, which currently has the NL Central off the board for division winners because of the gap St. Louis has with under 20 games to go.
League Winner: Cardinals to win National League (+900) (Last week +950)Even though it took some comebacks against lowly competition, the Cardinals had another solid week and remain the team to beat in the NL Central. Not much has changed regarding the odds, as the Cardinals continue to sit ahead of the San Diego Padres and hold the fourth-best odds to win the National League pennant. The Cards owned odds of +950 last week, and they’ve seen those odds bet slightly down to +900, which shouldn’t be a surprise with how this team had continued to play over the past two months. The quality of competition hasn’t been the best, but it’s not like the Cardinals weren’t in the race when they faced much tougher competition earlier this year. Even though they’ve been playing some admirable baseball, it’s hard to see a scenario outside of a monster winning streak where the Cardinals’ odds continue to be bet down, meaning if you like this price, it’s something you should buy.
World Series Odds: Cardinals to Win World Series (+1900) (Last week: +2200)The Cardinals will be a tough out in the postseason if they continue to get quality starting pitching. With that, this team goes offensively as Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado go, meaning their success will go a long way in dictating how long this team survives in October. After falling from +2000 to +2200 last week, the Cardinals have once again been bet down to +1900, which has them with the seventh best odds in MLB. With a wide-open National League and an American League that doesn’t strike fear into the opposition, there’s still some value in the Cardinals’ World Series odds that warrant consideration in the futures market.
