New York Mets vs St. Louis Cardinals Prediction: Will Steven Matz Earn His First Win Against His Former Team?
New York Mets vs St. Louis Cardinals Prediction: Will Steven Matz Earn His First Win Against His Former Team?
While Major League Baseball had two planned doubleheaders on today's schedule as makeups of games that were postponed due to the lockout, today's doubleheader between the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets is a result of yesterday's rainout.
One could argue that Mother Nature was kind to St. Louis given the fact that they got into New York early Monday morning after playing Sunday Night Baseball against San Francisco.
The last time the Cardinals and Mets met at Busch Stadium on April 27th, a benches-clearing tussle ensued after a pitch thrown in the vicinity of Nolan Arenado's head, which followed several Mets hitters getting plunked throughout the series. Thus, today's games should be intense and filled with plenty of emotion.
For this article, we focus on the game involving the pitching matchup between Steven Matz and Taijuan Walker. Will Matz, the former Met, earn his first win against the franchise he played for during the first six years of his career? Or will the Mets add to their first-place standing and the best-run differential of any NL East team?
Read on for our prediction, best play, and the odds for today's second leg of the doubleheader between the Cardinals and Mets.
Mets vs. Cardinals Start Time, Where to Watch, and Odds
- Date: May 17, 2022
- Game Time: 6:40 pm ET
- Where to Watch: BSMW, Sportsnet New York, MLB Extra Innings, MLB.TV
Click Here for Mets vs Cardinals Odds
New York Mets vs St. Louis Cardinals Prediction
The Mets are coming off their first series loss after dropping two of three to the Mariners over the weekend. New York was the last team to lose a series after winning nine of its first ten and splitting a four-game series against Atlanta. The Mets showed some vulnerability against Seattle, especially with their pitching, as they allowed 12 runs over the final two games. New York has even more question marks in its rotation, as Opening Day starter Tylor Megill joined ace Jacob deGrom on the IL with right biceps inflammation.
Conversely, the Cardinals cooled off the red-hot Giants in the last two games of their weekend series, ending San Francisco's six-game winning streak. Sunday's finale got so out of hand that St. Louis allowed Albert Pujols to pitch the ninth inning for the first pitching appearance of his career.
Though St. Louis is underdogs in both legs of today's doubleheader, we are targeting the game involving Steven Matz (3-3, 6.40), in large part because of New York's struggles against southpaws. The Mets are 0-4 in their last four home games against left-handed starters. Furthermore, New York's offense has drastic splits between facing righties and lefties. The Mets are hitting .264 (ranks second) with a .736 OPS vs. right-handed pitching, compared to a .214 average (ranks 24th) and .637 OPS against left-handed pitching. Thus, we are getting good value with the southpaw Matz on the mound.
Matz is 0-1 with a 5.59 ERA in two career starts against his former team. But given New York's struggles against lefties, we are willing to look the other way on Matz's slow start to the season. The Mets were always bound for some regression after starting the season without a loss in ten consecutive series, and we expect their problems to snowball into the start of this series.
New York Mets vs St. Louis Cardinals Pick
PICK: St. Louis Cardinals ML (+110) (Bet $100 to win $110)
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