The St. Louis Cardinals host a matinee tilt against a high-profile National League opponent on Wednesday. St. Louis is 9-7 overall this season, and the Cardinals will aim to avoid a sweep at the hands of the New York Mets. The Mets topped the Cardinals on both Monday and Tuesday, leaving St. Louis in a scrambling position. The Mets are 14-5 to begin the 2022 season.
First pitch is at 1:15 p.m. ET in St. Louis. Caesars Sportsbook lists the Mets as -125 favorites on the money line (risk $125 to win $100), while the over-under, or total number of runs Vegas thinks will be scored, is seven in the latest Mets vs. Cardinals odds. Before you make any Cardinals vs. Mets picks, you need to see the MLB predictions and betting advice from SportsLine's advanced computer simulation model.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every MLB game 10,000 times and it is off to a sizzling start to the 2022 season. It's on a 25-11 roll on top-rated MLB money-line picks through three weeks, returning almost $1,100 for $100 players. Anyone following it has seen huge returns.
Now, the model has set its sights on Mets vs. Cardinals, and just locked in its picks and MLB predictions. You can head to SportsLine now to see the model's picks. Now, here are several MLB betting lines and trends for Mets vs. Cardinals:
- Mets vs. Cardinals money line: Mets -125, Cardinals +105
- Mets vs. Cardinals over-under: 7 runs
- Mets vs. Cardinals run line: Mets -1.5 (+140)
- NYM: The Mets are 9-3 on the road
- STL: The Cardinals are 3-3 at home
Why you should back the Mets
New York's starting pitcher, Carlos Carrasco, is a devastating weapon. The 35-year-old veteran is off to an outstanding start in 2022, posting a 1.47 ERA across 18.1 innings and three starts. Carrasco has 20 strikeouts and only two walks this season and, dating back to 2014, he has a stellar 3.50 ERA across more than 1,000 innings of work. Right handed batters notably struggle against Carrasco with a .689 OPS, and he is backed up by an above-average bullpen. New York's relievers have a 3.29 ERA with 10.96 strikeouts per nine innings this season.
On offense, the Mets are leading the National League with a 19.1 percent strikeout rate, and New York ranks in the top five in home runs (17), runs scored (89), and stolen bases (12). The Mets are also near the top of the league in batting average (.255) and on-base percentage (.342), with Francisco Lindor off to an obscene start. The talented infielder has four home runs, 12 runs scored, 12 runs batted in, and three stolen bases to begin the season, and Lindor has a .496 slugging percentage to boot.
Why you should back the Cardinals
The Cardinals have the best hitter in the National League to begin the 2022 season in Nolan Arenado. Arenado has five home runs and 14 RBI, zooming to a .672 slugging percentage to go along with a .420 on-base percentage. As a team, the Cardinals have impressive speed, leading the NL with 15 stolen bases. St. Louis is also solidly above-average in both strikeout rate (21.5 percent) and walk rate (9.2 percent), with strong defense.
On the mound, left-hander Steven Matz gets the ball for St. Louis, and he is coming off a 2021 season in which he posted a 3.82 ERA with only 2.6 walks per nine innings. Matz has more than five strikeouts per walk to begin the 2022 season, and the Cardinals boast a strong bullpen behind him. St. Louis has a 2.52 ERA with its relief corps this season, and the Cardinals also have the benefit of home-field advantage with an afternoon start.
How to make Mets vs. Cardinals picks
SportsLine's model is leaning over on the run total, and it says one side of the money line has all the value. You can only get the model's MLB picks at SportsLine.
So who wins Mets vs. Cardinals? And which side has all the value? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of Mets vs. Cardinals you need to jump on Wednesday, all from the model that has crushed its MLB picks, and find out.
