St. Louis Cardinals vs Cincinnati Reds Prediction 9-30-23 MLB Picks

The Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals meet Saturday in MLB action from Busch Stadium. This matchup marks the second installment in the final regular-season series of the year. In the Friday opener, the Reds posted a wild blowout victory. Check back all season long for free MLB at Sports Chat Place.

Cincinnati Reds 

The Reds played the Guardians in a pair of games this week, winning Tuesday 11-7 then dropping game two 4-3. On Friday versus the Cardinals, Cincinnati jumped out to a 7-0 lead after just two innings in an eventual 19-2 blowout win. Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Nick Maritni each posted three RBI in the victory. 

As starter for the Saturday matchup the Reds are going with Connor Phillips. So far over four starts this year (the first four of his career) Phillips is 1-0 with a 5.66 ERA and 26 Ks in 20.2 innings. 

Cincinnati Reds Team Facts

The Reds have lost each of their last four games as road favorites against NL Central opponents following a win.
The Reds have covered the run line in each of their last 11 Saturday road games against National League opponents.
The 'Inning 1 OVER 0.5 runs' market has hit in each of the Reds' last four games as road favorites.
The Reds have led after 3 innings in each of their last three night games against National League opponents.
The Reds have lost the first inning in each of their last five Saturday night road games.

St. Louis Cardinals

Over on the Cardinals’ side, they lost two of three games to the Brewers this week, falling 3-2 Wednesday and 3-0 in the finale. In Friday’s matchup St. Louis had six hits, three errors and gave up 17 hits in the big loss. Richie Palacios had a two-run homer but not much else occurred on offense. 

It’ll be Drew Rom in the starter role for the Cardinals on Saturday. This year over his seven starts (the first seven of his career), Rom is 1-4 with a 7.98 ERA and 25 strikeouts over 29.1 frames total. 

St. Louis Cardinals Team Facts

The Cardinals have won four of their last five games as underdogs against the Reds following a loss.
The Cardinals have failed to cover the run line in each of their last eight Saturday games against NL Central opponents.
The Cardinals have trailed after 3 innings in each of their last three home games.
The Cardinals have trailed after 5 innings in each of their last four home games against National League opponents that held a winning record.
The Cardinals have trailed after 7 innings in each of their last four home games against opponents that held a winning record.

Matchup/League Facts

The St. Louis Cardinals rank T29th in the league for triples this season (12).
The St. Louis Cardinals rank 29th in the league for strikeouts this season (1193).
The Cincinnati Reds rank 1st in the league for steals this season (189).
The Cincinnati Reds rank 3rd in the league for triples this season (37).

ANDREW’S FREE PICK 

I’ll stay with the Reds in this one. The starter matchup should be pretty fun, though. Phillips has been okay over his last trio, posting a 1-0 record with eight earned runs in a span of 16.0 innings total. As for Rom, he’s given up 11 earned over his last 6.2 innings, going 0-2 in his most recent pair. On Friday Cincinnati played just about as well as they could hope for offensively. Six different players had multiple RBI in the blowout win, and it was the the third time in the last five games that Cincinnati has scored at least 11 runs. Should be another pretty solid total in game two.