The St. Louis Cardinals (23-29) and Cleveland Guardians (21-28) open up a 3-game set at Progressive Field Friday. First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. ET. Let’s analyze BetMGM Sportsbook’s lines around the Cardinals vs. Guardians odds and make our expert MLB picks and predictions for the best bets.
Season series: First meeting since splitting a 4-game series in 2021
The Cardinals have started to turn things around after one of the worst starts in franchise history. St. Louis has won of 13 of its last 20 games to climb to within 5 games of 1st place in the NL Central. Their starting pitching ERA, which was once 2nd-to-last in baseball, has improved to 23rd at 5.01.
The Guardians are in a similarly weak division (AL Central) but have missed the necessary pieces to fire on all cylinders. They are 3-7 and 7-13 the last 10 and 20 games, respectively. They still sit 4.5 games out of 1st place, and if they fall out, these Cardinals are going to come calling about today’s starting pitcher.