Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals Betting Preview/Player Prop

A pair of Wild Card hopefuls in the National League are set to meet up in St. Louis on Monday night when the Cardinals host the Los Angeles Dodgers. These teams have plenty of history against each other, and there is plenty riding on these games.

Los Angeles currently holds the top Wild Card spot in the National League, but they want to win the division. The Dodgers bring a record of 86-51 into this game, and they trail the Giants by just one game in the NL West.

St. Louis comes into this series with a 69-66 record, and that is good enough for third place in the NL Central. The Cardinals are keeping the pressure on the Padres and Reds for the second Wild Card spot behind the Dodgers.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are massive favorites on the moneyline, with odds set at -218.

Los Angeles Must Score

The Dodgers has an offensive lineup that is loaded with talent, but that hasn't always led to many runs. Los Angeles was pretty quiet in the series against San Francisco, but this is a chance to bounce back.

Trea Turner has been great for the Dodgers since joining the team, and he gets everything going. Max Muncy leads the team with 30 home runs and 78 RBIs, and he will be a key in this game.

Max Scherzer is on the mound Monday afternoon, and he has been lights out since joining Los Angeles. The former Cy Young Award winner is 12-4 with a 2.40 ERA, and he can completely shut a team down.

Cardinals Bullpen a Disaster

The Cardinals blew a huge lead on Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee, and that has been a common theme for this team all season long. The pitching staff just continues to let the team down, but Miles Mikolas will try to change that on Monday.

Mikolas has spent a large chunk of the season on the IL, and he is just 0-1 with a 4.41 earned run average. The Cardinals can't afford to give up many runs in this game, as facing Scherzer is a difficult task.

Nolan Arenado leads the Cardinals with 29 home runs and 88 RBIs, and he will be a key player down the stretch. This is not a great offensive team, but they have started to swing the bats a little better.

Dodgers Get it Done

Both of these teams had a rough game on Sunday, and there could be some fatigue at play in this game on Monday. The Dodgers are clearly the much better overall team in this matchup, but the Cardinals have been great at home.

The biggest problem for St. Louis is the bullpen, and they just can't hold on to any leads. Los Angeles is a team that has plenty of thunder in the lineup, and they will be able to take advantage of that weak pitching staff.

Look for the Cardinals to keep this game close, but they won't have enough pitching to win the game. Bet the Los Angeles Dodgers -218 as they find a way to win this game by one single run on Monday.

Player Prop

Corey Seager (-320) Over 0.5 Hits

After watching Seager pick up five hits, including an HR, in his first eight at-bats during the weekend series, the Giants pitched around the Dodgers shortstop yesterday, walking him three times in four at-bats. Smart move by SF manager Gabe Kapler as the result was a 6-4 win that put the Giants back up by a game over LA in the tight NL West race.

We certainly saw what Seager can do when he got hot in last year’s postseason. And he looks to be heating up again with a .312 average (29-for-93), nine 2Bs and four HRs over his last 30 days. He also has been much better on the road this season (.314 average on 44 hits) than at home (.240 on 29 hits).

Opening up a big series in St. Louis, we’ll go with Seager (-320) to be in the middle of the Dodger offense today and pick up at least one hit.

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