Atlanta Braves vs St. Louis Cardinals Prediction: Can Spencer Strider and The Braves Sweep the Cardinals?
Atlanta Braves vs St. Louis Cardinals Prediction: Can Spencer Strider and The Braves Sweep the Cardinals?
The St. Louis Cardinals are one of baseball’s most storied franchises, and even when they are having a “down year” by their standards, they are always seemingly still relevant and in the mix for a playoff spot. That could not be more true than this year, as St. Louis’ 44-40 record is nothing to sneeze at, but given how much concern there is over an injury-riddled pitching staff, the Cardinals’ ceiling is likely not as high as it could be.
As consistent as St. Louis has been, especially recently, it is surprising to see how poorly they stack up against certain opponents. The Atlanta Braves have owned the Cardinals in recent years, winning 13 of the last 15 regular-season matchups and outscoring them 78-36. These two teams continue to head in opposite directions, as Atlanta is 7-2 in its previous nine games, while St. Louis has lost four straight and six of seven.
Will Atlanta’s dominance of St. Louis continue for one more day and help them complete the four-game home sweep?
Read on for our prediction, best play, and odds for Thursday’s finale between the Cardinals and Braves.
Braves vs. Cardinals Start Time, Where to Watch, and Odds
- Date: July 7, 2022
- Game Time: 7:20 pm ET
- Where to Watch: MLB.TV
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Braves vs. Cardinals Line Movement
Atlanta Braves vs St. Louis Cardinals Prediction
Though 40-year-old Adam Wainwright is still around to anchor the pitching staff, St. Louis’ starting rotation is littered with rookies, as evidenced by the fact that they had three rookie pitchers start games in a recent June series against the Pirates. It remains to be seen how much longer the Cardinals can stay above .500 with that much youth in the rotation, especially when they struggle as much as tonight’s starter has struggled.
Matthew Liberatore (2-1, 5.66) has pitched to a 10.97 ERA through three road starts, with a whopping .417 OBA and sky-high 2.44 WHIP. He has only averaged four innings per appearance overall and faces a Braves offense with the best slugging percentage (.443) and ranks second in home runs hit (126) in all of baseball.
Atlanta counters with a rookie of its own, but theirs is considered a strength of the rotation, not a weakness. Spencer Strider (4-2, 2.87) has allowed one earned run on six hits over the last 12 innings while striking out 18 and walking one. He is a flamethrower who hits 100 mph on the radar gun with an electric fastball and is quickly becoming someone whom manager Brian Snitker can trust.
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St. Louis will need to score runs to hang with Atlanta in this one, but that will be difficult to do as Paul Goldschmidt has not homered since June 27 (stuck on 299 career home runs). Manager Oliver Marmol has experimented with different moves in the lineup to create a spark, like briefly dropping Tommy Edman to the No. 7 spot from leadoff as his average has dipped to .262.
Atlanta is a massive -215 moneyline favorite, which bodes well for its chances of winning, considering it is 11-2 when it has moneyline odds of -214 or higher. However, we are eschewing the steep moneyline odds for more value with the runline and are “doubling down” in a sense with the Braves’ team total, given that we like their chances for success against Liberatore.
Atlanta Braves vs St. Louis Cardinals Picks
- Atlanta Braves -1.5 Runs (-105) (Bet $105 to win $100)
- Atlanta Braves Team Total OVER 5.5 Runs (+110) (Bet $100 to win $110)
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