Cincinnati At St. Louis MLB Winning Predictions

The NL Central has been one of the more solid divisions in baseball over the past few years, with the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, and Pittsburgh Pirates all bringing strong line-ups to the ball park. It is the Cubs who have risen to the top, though, and they are coming into this season as the defending champions and one of the favorites to win it all again. If anyone is going to put up a serious challenge for the division, it is going to be the Cardinals. They started their season with a 3-game series versus the Cubs, winning the season opener before dropping the next two. They will now have another divisional series over the weekend when they welcome the Cincinnati Reds to Busch Stadium. The Reds have got their season off to a winning start, but will have a sterner test versus the Cardinals over the next few days. The second game of the series is set for Saturday afternoon. Find the latest MLB betting odds here.

In Depth Analysis On The Cincinnati Reds At St. Louis Cardinals MLB Winning Predictions

When: Saturday, April 8 at 2:15 PM EST Where: Busch Stadium, St. Louis Starting Pitchers: Bronson Arroyo Vs Michael Wacha TV: FSO-O / FSO-M Radio: WLW 700 / KMOX 1120 Live Stream: MLB.TV MLB Odds: TBA  

Why bet on the Cincinnati Reds

The Reds got their season off to a solid start by taking 2 of 3 from the Philadelphia Phillies in their opening series. It was a nice recovery after losing the season opener. This series is sure to be a much tougher test, as it’s fair to say that the Phillies are likely to be near the bottom of the heap for the majority of the season. There are still a lot of positives that the Reds can take from their first series of the season, most notably that they are batting .277 as a team, which puts them in the top 5 in the league, albeit very early in the season. Bronson Arroyo will make his first start in 3 years on Saturday.

Why bet on the St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals are sure to still be kicking themselves a little after letting their series against the Chicago Cubs slip away. The won their season opener, before losing a close one in game 2, and then blowing a lead in the final game of the 3-game set. As disappointing as the outcome may be, the Cardinals showed that they can hang with the defending champions, and with a little bit of luck, they could easily have come away with the win. The bats were not particularly active in that opening series, though, but they will have a chance to spring them to life by going against a pitcher who hasn’t played a big league game since 2014. Michael Wacha (7-7, 5.09 ERA in 2016) will be on the mound for the Cards.

Expert Pick and Final Score Prediction

While Bronson Arroyo passed his first test in spring training, playing in an actual MLB is a good deal different. I think he could be in a bit of trouble here.

Cincinnati Reds 2 St. Louis Cardinals 6