Guardians vs Cardinals Prediction & MLB Odds For Friday, September 20th
At 8:15 PM ET, the Guardians and Cardinals face off in an interleague matchup. This one is being played at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, and the Guardians are the AL Central’s top team with an overall record of 89-65. The Cardinals are third in the NL Central at 77-76.
Cleveland is currently on a two-game winning streak, and they are the slight money line favorite for Friday’s game at -104. The Cardinals are favored at -114, and the over/under line is sitting at 8.5 runs. Kyle Gibson will start for the Cardinals, while the Guardians are sending Ben Lively to the mound.
Betting Odds & Lines for this Game
- Spread: Guardians -1.5 (+157) | Cardinals 1.5 (-200)
- Total: 8.5
- MoneyLine: Guardians -104 | Cardinals -114
All Odds are courtesy of (BetMGM | DraftKings | Fanduel | BetRivers)
Guardians vs. Cardinals Prediction: Moneyline
Cleveland closed out their series vs. the Twins with a 3-2 win. Leading up to the game, they were the slight favorite at -107 on the money line. It was a big game for the Guardians, as they needed a win to stay in the playoff race. The Guardians scored their three runs on 11 hits and only hit one home run.
Joey Cantillo got the start for the Guardians, going 4 1/3 innings, and picked up the win. He only gave up one run on three hits and issued three walks. Cleveland’s offense was hot right out of the gates, as Kyle Manzardo went 3/3 with a homer and a run scored. The Guardians also had three other players with two hits.
Cleveland is on the road today to take on the Cardinals, having won two straight games. The Guardians lead the AL Central by 6.5 games, heading into today’s game with an overall record of 89-65. Their record in the division is 30-22 this season.
At home, the Guardians have gone 48-28 this season, and they are 41-37 on the road. As the favorite, Cleveland is 62-33 this season, and they are 27-32 as the underdog. The Guardians have won three straight games as the road team, and their overall series record is 28-15-6.
The Cardinals will be looking to get back on track after closing out their series vs. the Pirates with a 3-2 loss. This was especially tough, as they held a lead going into the 8th inning before the Pirates scored a run to tie things up and added another run in the top of the 9th to pick up the win. St. Louis was the -148 favorite at home going into the game.
Erick Fedde put together a good start for the Cardinals, going six innings and giving up just one earned run, and the Cardinals offense scored only two runs on their . Brendan Donovan was hot at the plate, going 4/4 with a double, two RBIs, and a run scored. However, the Cardinals couldn’t close things out, and JoJo Romero took the loss out of the bullpen.
St. Louis is 77-76 overall this season, and they are 11.0 games behind the Brewers in the NL Central. The Cardinals will host the Guardians today, and they are 3rd in the NL Central, just one game behind the Cubs for 2nd place in the division.
The Cardinals have an even 26-26 record in divisional games this season. So far, they have gone 42-36 at home compared to a 35-40 mark on the road. St. Louis closed out their series vs. the Pirates with a win and took the series 3-1. This year, they have an overall series record of 25-20-5.
Guardians vs. Cardinals Prediction: Over/Under
The Cleveland Guardians are on the road today to take on the St. Louis Cardinals. The O/U line for the game is set at 8.5 runs, which is slightly higher than their combined run average of 8.3 runs per game. The Guardians have an O/U record of 67-76 on the season, and their average O/U line for the year is 8 runs. When the O/U line has been set at 8.5 runs this season, their record is 20-20. In total, 29 of their games have had O/U lines set at 8.5 runs, accounting for 18.8% of their games played.
Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor have been the Guardians’ top power threats this season, coming in with 35 and 31 homers, respectively. Ramirez’s 107 RBIs are also the best on the team and 6th in the league, while Naylor is 7th in the league with 105 RBIs. Over his last eight games, Naylor has two homers and is 8/31 (.258), while Ramirez has gone 9/31 (.290) with a homer over the same stretch. Kyle Manzardo is also swinging a hot bat right now, going 6/14 with two homers in his last six games.
Cleveland’s offense is averaging 4.4 runs per game, which is 14th in the league. So far, they are batting a collective .238 and have the league’s 12th ranked home run total. As a team, they have the 5th fewest strikeouts in the league and are 11th in on-base percentage. The Guardians’ offense has been a bit better at home this season, averaging 4.7 runs per game.
St. Louis has played 35 games this season with an over/under line of 8.5 runs, and the over has hit in 29 of those contests. The Cardinals’ games have averaged 8.6 runs per game this season, and their overall over/under record is 71-78.
St. Louis comes into the game with the 10th best batting average in the league at .246, and they have been good at putting the ball in play, as they have the 9th fewest strikeouts in the league. However, their team OPS of .698 is just 17th in the league, and they are also near the bottom of the league in terms of home runs.
Alec Burleson and Paul Goldschmidt are tied for the team lead with 21 homers, and Brendan Donovan is right behind them with 13. Donovan is also 3rd on the team in RBIs and is batting .277 for the season. He has been even better of late, going 9/22 in his last six games with a home run and five RBIs. Jordan Walker has also homered in two straight games.
Guardians vs. Cardinals Prediction: Spread
When the Cleveland Guardians are on the road, they have been a solid bet against the run line, going 41-37 overall. They are currently on a three-game run line win streak and have an average run margin of +0.4 runs per game away from home.
Ben Lively gets the start for the Guardians today as he faces the Cardinals on the road. So far this season, he has made 27 starts and has a record of 12-9 with an ERA of 3.87. Lively’s WHIP for the season is currently 1.23, and he has turned in nine quality starts. In his last outing, Lively picked up the win, going five innings and not giving up a run. Before that, he had given up at least one homer in three straight starts. Lively’s ERA on the road is 4.1 compared to 3.96 at home.
When betting the run line, the Cardinals have been a better play as the underdog this season, going 52-28. They are also 39-39 at home on the run line, compared to 38-37 on the road. Their average run margin is -0.4, but it’s -0.1 at home and -0.7 on the road. Their average run margin in wins is +2.8, but in losses, it’s -3.5.
Right-hander Kyle Gibson gets the start for the Cardinals today as he faces the Guardians at home. Gibson has made 28 starts this season and has a record of 8-7 with an ERA of 4.12. In his 28 appearances, he has turned in 12 quality starts and is averaging 8.12 strikeouts per nine innings. Gibson’s most recent outing came against the Blue Jays, where he took the loss, giving up one earned run in 5 1/3 innings of work. Before that, he had gone 6 2/3 innings without giving up an earned run. So far, he has a 5.07 ERA at home compared to 3.81 on the road.
Guardians vs. Cardinals Pick: Cardinals ML -114
Our prediction for today’s Guardians vs. Cardinals matchup is to take the Cardinals on the money line, with the payout being -114. We have the Cardinals winning this one by a score of 5-4.
Looking at the starting pitchers, our projections have Ben Lively lasting just five innings and finishing with four strikeouts. As for the Cardinals starter, Kyle Gibson, he is projected to also finish with four strikeouts and go six innings.
