New York Mets at St. Louis Cardinals/Prop Pick

Two of the best teams in the National League meet up on Monday night to begin a series in St. Louis. The Cardinals will be hosting the New York Mets, and there will be plenty of star power on the field in this game. 

The Mets have gotten off to a 12-5 start to the year, and this team has been doing nearly everything right to begin the year. New York has won three of their last five games, including taking two of three on the road in Arizona.

St. Louis has also gone 3-2 in their last five games and is now returning home after a road trip. The Cardinals are an impressive 9-5 on the year, and they will be a tough team to deal with in the NL Central Division. 

The New York Mets are the moneyline betting favorites at -146 over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night. 

Pitching Powering the Mets

The New York Mets once again have a dominant pitching staff, and their new ace will be on the mound on Monday night. New York has pitched to a team ERA of just 2.78 this season, and they are facing a lineup that has struggled at times.

Max Scherzer takes the ball on Monday night, and he is 3-0 with a 2.50 ERA to begin the year. The Mets also have a dominant bullpen, and they don’t need their ace to do it all on his own.

New York is scoring right around five runs per game this season, which is more than enough offense with this staff. Francisco Lindor has been as good as advertised as he leads the team with a .313 average and four home runs. 

Cardinals Need More Offense

Nolan Arenado has been on a tear at the plate for the Cardinals this season, but he is going to need some help. St. Louis is hitting just .239 as a team, and they have struggled to string hits together. 

Arenado has five home runs and a .364 batting average for the Cardinals. Paul Goldschmidt still needs to get hot at the plate, making this lineup even more difficult to deal with. 

Miles Mikolas makes the start on Monday night, and he is 1-0 with a 1.76 ERA to begin the year. St. Louis has been pitching well of late, but they have faced some weak offensive lineups. 

St. Louis Starts Week With Win

The Mets are confident in having Scherzer on the mound on Monday night, but he is due for a bad performance at some point. There are some big bats in the middle of the Cardinals lineup, and St. Louis has had some success against Scherzer in the past.

The Cardinals are hoping that Mikolas can continue his hot start to the season, but St. Louis also has a strong bullpen as well. St. Louis just needs Mikolas to be solid and give the offense a chance to break through. 

This should be a great series in St. Louis, and the Cardinals will send the fans home happy on Monday. Bet the St. Louis Cardinals moneyline as they get just enough offense to sneak past the New York Mets in the series opener on Monday night. 

Prop Pick

NY Mets (-110) UNDER 3.5 Runs

St. Louis is giving up 3.02 runs per 9 innings on defense, which ranks No. 5 in the league, while allowing an OPS of .642, which ranks No. 9. Scores have gone UNDER in each of the Cardinals’ last six games overall.

With Dunkel predicting a St. Louis victory by the score of 3-2, take the Mets (-110) to finish UNDER their Vegas team total of 3.5 runs against the Cardinals.