St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds Betting Preview/Player Prop
30 August 2021
St. Louis has been playing much better baseball since the All-Star Break, but this team is still just 66-63 overall. The Cardinals just split a four-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and they can’t seem to find a way to really turn the corner.
Cincinnati currently holds the second Wild Card spot in the National League with a record of 71-61. The Reds still have plenty of work to do as the San Diego Padres are just 1.5 games out of first.
The Cincinnati Reds are -190 on the moneyline in the series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Pitching Letting Down Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals were one inning away from taking 3 out of 4 in Pittsburgh, but closer Alex Reyes blew a save on Sunday afternoon. This has been a repeating story for the Cardinals this season, as the entire pitching staff has been a disaster.
Jon Lester is set to start on Monday night, and he has not been very good since St. Louis acquired him from Washington at the Trade Deadline. Lester is just 4-6 on the season up to this point, and the Reds are extremely familiar with him.
Nolan Arenado leads the team with 26 home runs and 84 RBIs, but his .253 batting average is not what was expected. This St. Louis team has the ability to score some runs, but they just haven’t been consistent.
Reds Want to Slug
The Cincinnati Reds have not been swinging the bats well of late, but that is not normal for this team. Cincinnati is a team that has plenty of big hitters in the middle of that lineup, and they are going to do some damage in this game.
Nick Castellanos leads the team with a .318 batting average, and he also provides plenty of power. Veteran Joey Votto leads the Reds with 28 home runs and 83 RBIs, and he has been red hot since July.
Luis Castillo will be making the start on Monday night, and he is starting to turn his season around after a miserable start. Castillo is still just 7-13 on the young season, but he has the stuff to completely shut down an opposing lineup.
Reds Begin Series With Win
The St. Louis Cardinals will be coming to Cincinnati as a very hungry team, but they are also a team that has some major weaknesses. St. Louis just struggled in a weekend series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and now they are facing a much better team.
Cincinnati has a terrific offense, and they are going to put up plenty of runs in this series against that Cardinals pitching staff. St. Louis will find a way to keep this game close with its offense as well, but they just won’t have what it takes to come away with the win.
Bet the Cincinnati Reds -190 over the St. Louis Cardinals in this NL Central showdown.
Player Prop
Nick Castellanos (-410) Over 0.5 Hits
The Reds are battling to hang on to the second wild card spot in the NL and picked a bad time to go into an offensive funk against the Marlins over the weekend. Held to just two runs on 10 hits combined, Cincinnati dropped a pair to Miami and now sits 1 ½ games ahead of the Padres in the WC race.
If the offense is going to pick it up tonight, it will likely come from Castellanos’ bat. The 29-year-old outfielder has been a steady force all season and currently ranks second in batting average (.318) and seventh in OPS (.941).
He’s been even more productive at home with a .368 batting average and 17 HRs at Great American Ball Park. He’s also feasted against Cardinals pitching with 16 hits in 41 at-bats (.390 average) and 3 HRs already this season.
Coming off an 0-for-4 performance yesterday, we’ll back Castellanos (-410) to pick up the offense tonight against St. Louis and collect at least one hit.
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