Pittsburgh Pirates vs. St. Louis Cardinals Prediction: Can Adam Wainwright Earn Another Opening Day Win?

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. St. Louis Cardinals: Can Adam Wainwright Earn Another Opening Day Win?

The St. Louis Cardinals will welcome the Pittsburgh Pirates to Busch Stadium for Opening Day. The Pirates didn't look great last year and ultimately did nothing to help this year's team look any better.

Pittsburgh's biggest prize in the off-season on the offensive end was Daniel Vogelbach, who has a ton of power but also strikeouts out a bunch. Expectations are extremely low for the Pirates but high for the Cardinals

Here are our picks, predictions, and odds for Opening Day between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Pirates vs. Cardinals Start Time, Where to Watch, and Odds

• Date: April 7, 2022
• Game Time: 4:15 pm ET
• Where to Watch: BSMW/ATTP

Pirates vs. Cardinals Injury Report

Pirates

Questionable: 3B Ke'Bryan Hates (Ankle)

Out: OF Anthony Alford (Wrist)

Cardinals

Out: SP Jack Flaherty (Shoulder)

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Pirates vs. Cardinals Line Movement

Pirates vs. Cardinals Opening Day Prediction

It's just another start for Adam Wainwright of the St. Louis Cardinals. The 40-year-old has been through a bunch of Opening Day games and has had one helluva career with the Cardinals as a starting pitcher.

Wainwright really hasn't regressed in the last two seasons despite aging. He's allowed a 4.15 xFIP with just 6% walks and 20.4% strikeouts. He's struggled to strike out lefties a little bit more than righties but overall, power numbers are down on both sides in the last two seasons and wOBA on both sides in the last two seasons are below .285.

The Pirates lineup has a .138 ISO through a combined 346 plate appearances and a .295 wOBA. That, along with a 23.8% strikeout rate over 45% ground balls.

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The expectation is that Wainwright has another memorable outing on Opening Day.

Meanwhile, JT Brubaker will take the hill for the Pirates. Through his last two seasons, Brubaker has been allowing plenty of power. Lefties have a .210 ISO while righties have a .211 ISO in the last two seasons.

The Cardinals don't have a balanced lineup and will be much better against left-handed pitchers. However, there's still some power in the Cardinals lineup against righties. Tyler O'Neill has a .255 ISO against righties in 550 plate appearances while Nolan Arenado has a .218 ISO. The Cardinals are deep enough to have success against Brubaker, even from the right side and then eventually, the Cardinals would be able to add on against the bullpen of the Pirates, which also isn't any better from last season in terms of projections.

So let's take the Cardinals -1.5 against the Pirates. It's currently at +104 and makes a ton of sense for the home team.

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates Pick

• Cardinals -1.5 (+104) (Bet $100 to Win $104)

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