San Francisco Giants at St. Louis Cardinals Preview/Prop Picks

Sunday Night Baseball visits St. Louis this week as the Cardinals will host the San Francisco Giants in the series finale. Both teams have picked up a win this weekend in St. Louis, and this will be the rubber match. 

San Francisco brings a 20-13 record into this series, but they are currently in third place in the tough NL West Division. The Giants have been playing great baseball of late, but were shutout on Saturday afternoon.

The St. Louis Cardinals have been inconsistent throughout the 2022 season, and they are now just 18-15 on the year. St. Louis is currently in second place in the NL Central Division and are falling well behind the Milwaukee Brewers. 

The San Francisco Giants are the moneyline betting favorites at -150 over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday night.

Giants Getting Great Pitching

The San Francisco Giants are once again getting great starting pitching this season, and they have their ace on the mound Sunday night. Carlos Rodon is in his first season with the Giants, and he has been as good as advertised.

Rodon has gone 4-1 with a 1.80 ERA to begin the year, and he will be facing a lineup that has struggled at times in 2020. San Francisco has a terrific bullpen as well, and they can shut down the door when given a lead. 

Joc Pederson has belted six home runs to lead the way for the Giants, but this team has plenty of power sources. San Francisco was shut out on Saturday, but this is one of the better offenses in the National League.

Cardinals Need Consistency on Offense

The St. Louis Cardinals have some serious holes in their everyday lineup, and that has really affected the team to begin the 2022 season. Nolan Arenado has done all he can for the Cardinals, but he hasn’t always gotten a ton of help.

Arenado leads the team with seven home runs, 27 RBIs, and a .311 batting average, and he is always a threat to produce. St. Louis is waiting on some young talent to turn things around, and scoring runs will be a challenge on Sunday.

Adam Wainwright is expected to make this start on Sunday night after returning from the injured list with COVID-19. Wainwright is 3-3 with a 3.18 ERA on the season, but he almost always gives his team a chance to win.

Rodon Leads Giants to Win

This should be a terrific pitching matchup on Sunday night as a pair of proven veterans are set to take the mound. Neither of the first two games in this matchup have been competitive, but this should be a tight battle on Sunday.

It’s simply too hard to bet against Carlos Rodon at this point as he has been just so dominant this season. Wainwright will keep his team in this game, but it will be Rodon and the Giants that are able to pull ahead in this game. 

There is a good chance that this could be a potential playoff preview, but San Francisco is the better team at this point. Bet the San Francisco Giants -150 as they win the series finale on Sunday NIght Baseball over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Prop Picks

San Francisco (-135) OVER 3.5 Runs

San Francisco is averaging 5.0 runs per 9 innings on offense, which ranks No. 3 in the league, while hitting .245 as a team, which ranks No. 8. Scores have gone OVER in 11 of the Giants’ last 16 games at St. Louis.

With Dunkel predicting a San Francisco victory by the score of 5-4, take the Giants (-135) to finish OVER their Vegas team total of 3.5 runs against the Cardinals.

Brandon Crawford (+115) OVER 0.5 Runs

Crawford has scored 18 runs in 31 games, which ranks No. 2 on the Giants. The veteran shortstop has scored six runs over his last five games.

With Dunkel predicting a San Francisco road win with the final score going OVER the Vegas total, take Crawford (+115) to go OVER 0.5 runs against St. Louis.

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