Cardinals vs Reds Series Preview: Cincy Playing Spoiler
Not Enough Offenses on Either Side
Even though their own NL Wild Card hopes are not looking too good right now, the Cincinnati Reds are still a competitive and exciting young team. They’ll be motivated to beat up on their division rival: the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-game series. The Cardinals vs Reds’ best bets for Monday’s series opener are based on the Cardinals being -135 moneyline and +125 as -1.5 on the runline. The total is 8.5 runs.
Cincinnati is 4.5 games out of the final spot while St. Louis is just two games off the pace. So, both teams will take as many wins as they can get. The Reds have been treading water since the All-Star break and are still within striking distance of a playoff position but haven’t been able to make a move.
Elly De La Cruz is authoring a historic season. And yet there is no consistency from the lineup or rotation to allow David Bell’s club to gain ground.
The Reds’ weekend series loss to the Brewers is a great example of this because they were in Saturday’s 1-0 loss all the way and just couldn’t get the big hit. That’s how the season has gone for a team many expected to take a big jump into contention and possibly the MLB playoff schedule.
St. Louis is a couple of games under .500 in the second half of the season and split a pair of games with the Kansas City Royals on Friday and Saturday.
The offense is the bigger issue for the Cardinals who are still waiting for perennial All-Stars Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt to break out of their season-long funks.
Cardinals vs Reds 
Records: St. Louis Cardinals (60-58), Cincinnati Reds (57-61)
Day/Time:
Location: Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati, OH
Streaming: Bally Sports Midwest, Bally Sports Ohio
De La Cruz Is A Must-Watch
While the Reds may not be the most proficient offensive team — they’re 15th in runs and 13th in home runs but toward the bottom in average and on-base percentage. They do have one of the most exciting players in baseball in De La Cruz.
While still striking out a lot, the 6’5″ shortstop has 20 home runs, 77 runs scored, and a league-leading 59 stolen bases with 1 29 OPS+. However, when making Cardinals vs Reds best bets, it’s important to recognize that he’s one of two Cincinnati regulars (the other is Tyler Stephenson) with an OPS+ over 102.
De La Cruz may score runs just because of his incredible speed and aggressiveness, but he can’t do it by himself and just went 1-for-12 with nine strikeouts in a rough series.
Guys like Spencer Steer, Jeimer Candelario, and Jonathan India have all been fine but have not done enough to buoy an extremely top-heavy lineup that relies a ton on its speed.
Scoring runs won’t be an easy one with the Cardinals having Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde, and Kyle Gibson lined up to pitch this series.
The MLB odds today favor St. Louis with Gray against Andrew Abbott but they should swing back toward the Reds for Tuesday’s game as Hunter Greene — putting together an awesome campaign — will be on the tilt for Cincinnati.
Scoring Is Tough For St. Louis Too
An offensive resurgence in the middle of the season helped vault the Cardinals back into playoff contention but even St. Louis’ bats have cooled off a bit. Willson Contreras’ return from injury has helped as has Alec Burleson’s breakout season.
The midseason trade for Tommy Pham has been great as well. Still, though, the Cardinals don’t get much from their bench, don’t hit many home runs, and have too many guys underperforming. It makes it difficult for them to string together extended periods of strong play.
So, one of the Cardinals vs Reds’ best bets is that at least Gray will give them a good start. After a shaky July in which three of his four starts were rough, Gray has been awesome in August with back-to-back seven-inning, two-run outings.
He has dramatically cut his walk rate from a year ago and is striking out 11 batters per inning, which is always going to play. He has been everything the Cardinals could have expected when they signed him to a big deal after his All-Star season with the Twins last year.
It’s also important that he strikes a lot of guys out because Cincinnati strikes out very much, especially De La Cruz, Candelario, and Benson.
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Roll With St. Louis On Monday
Neither of these teams have good MLB odds to win the World Series but they both have a shot to make the postseason, and winning this series will go a long way toward that. For the opening game, though, take the Cardinals straight-up at -127 behind Gray.
Andrew Abbott has been great on the whole but has taken some beatings in recent starts and his peripheral numbers are a bit concerning. He has also given up more home runs than any other NL pitcher.
Consider the under 8.5 runs (even-money) as well. Both teams have solid bullpens.
For MLB betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.
