MLB Odds: Tigers vs Cardinals prediction, pick, how to watch
The Detroit Tigers take on the St. Louis Cardinals. Our MLB odds series has our Tigers Cardinals prediction and pick. Find out how to watch Tigers Cardinals.
This MLB betting situation is one of the classic dilemmas for anyone who considers betting on one baseball game. Most games are just straightforward questions about form, pitching matchups, and who sets up better to win a game. It doesn’t guarantee the outcome, but most of the time, a game can be sized up by looking at the numbers and stats and which pitcher or batting order has the advantage.
This game defies easy categorization because of the story involved on one side of the matchup.
The St. Louis Cardinals are 10-22 through 32 games. This is one of the two biggest stories in the National League through the first five weeks of the season. The other big story is the rise of the Pittsburgh Pirates. These are two mammoth surprises, but if you had to pick the bigger, more explosive story, it’s St. Louis. Why? It’s not that complicated: Some not-great teams do start quickly out of the gate and are high in the standings in May and June, maybe even early July. However, we don’t really know if a team is for real unless or until it gets through the dog days of summer in relatively decent shape. At least, that’s how it is on most occasions with unproven teams which rather suddenly and unexpectedly soar to the top of the standings before Memorial Day. Pleasant surprises in April and May still have to prove themselves over 162.
It’s a lot more significant when a team plummets the way the Cardinals have. Yes, there are roughly 130 games left, but if any team is 10-22 through 32 games, it will have to win at least 75 of its remaining 130 games — that’s 75-55, or 20 games over .500 — to merely have a chance of making the playoffs. Last year, 85-77 would not have been enough to get into the playoffs, so the Cardinals are already pushing up against some ugly and alarming math. The more they lose now, the better they will have to be over the next five months. Realistically, they and other National League teams will need at least 87 to 89 wins to be in the hunt for a wild card spot, so in reality, the Cardinals probably have to be close to 25 games over .500 the rest of the way to make the postseason.
They better start winning, so that their margins begin to increase. Right now, their margin for error is getting dangerously small. When a team is supposed to be good on paper but keeps losing, how does one handle the betting calculus? It’s a fascinating test not just of the Cardinals, but of the process of baseball betting itself.
Here are the Tigers-Cardinals MLB odds,
MLB Odds: Tigers-Cardinals Odds
Detroit Tigers: +1.5 (-110)
St. Louis Cardinals: -1.5 (-110)
Over: 8 (-114)
Under: 8 (-106)
How To Watch Tigers vs Cardinals
TV: Bally Sports Detroit (Tigers) / Bally Sports Midwest (Cardinals) / MLB Extra Innings
Stream: MLB.tv
Time: 8:15 p.m. ET/5:15 p.m. PT
*Watch Tigers-Cardinals LIVE on fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why The Tigers Could Cover The Spread
The Tigers are going up against a paralyzed St. Louis team which has lost 12 of 14 and simply can’t get out of its own way. When a team is in free-fall as the Cardinals are, the Tigers — who are getting very good pitching from their starting rotation, having just swept three games from the New York Mets — can easily be seen as the more attractive and logical choice.
Why The Cardinals Could Cover The Spread
The Cardinals are so bad right now that every time anyone picks a specific baseball game as the moment in which they will rebound, that bettor loses money. Yes, the odds say the Cardinals are going to win games at some point, but when a long streak of failure keeps going, is it wise to bet on the snapping of a streak?
Against the Detroit Tigers, at home: Yes, it is wise to bet on the Cardinals. The Tigers just swept the Mets and are not goiong to keep winning. This game is a natural “regression to the mean” candidate.
Final Tigers-Cardinals Prediction & Pick
You might want to be the one to correctly predict the end of the Cardinals’ losing streak, but this team is so bad that you should still stay away. Wait for the streak to end first.
Final Tigers-Cardinals Prediction & Pick: Cardinals -1.5
