The St. Louis Cardinals have strung together two straight wins as they desperately try to keep pace with the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs. They head to Texas this weekend to take on the Rangers in an interleague series.
The Rangers sit three games behind .500 at 27-30, but are just four games back from the division-leading Mariners. A series win this weekend would go a long way in keeping them in the mix in the AL West.
Let’s dive into the odds and my best bets for tonight’s series opening game.
Run Line
Moneyline
Total
The Rangers have been one of the worst offensive teams in baseball this season, averaging just 3.25 runs per game, and they’ve been even worse of late, sporting a batting average of .178 over the past two weeks. Today, they’ll face Matthew Liberatore of the Cardinals, who has allowed more than two earned runs in a start just twice all season, is first two starts of 2025. It’s now been eight straight starts where he’s allowed two or fewer earned runs.
In today’s edition of Walk-Off Wagers, I broke down why I’m backing the Cardinals to get the job done tonight:
The Rangers’ offense has been atrocious of late. Over the past 30 days, they’re dead last in the Majors in both batting average (.205) and OPS (.601). Those marks have only gotten worse in the past two weeks, dropping to .178 and .532. Finally, they’ve also been bad against left-handed pitchers this season, ranking third last in batting average (.207) and second last in OPS (.590).
All of that is bad news tonight when they host a St. Louis Cardinals team that’s starting a strong left-handed pitcher in Matthew Liberatore (2.73) while also ranking inside the top 10 in OPS over the past month.
I’m surprised the Cardinals aren’t even bigger favorites in this game.
Pick: Cardinals -130
As a new BetMGM user, you can now claim up to $1,500 in bonus bets when you create an account using BetMGM bonus code SI1500, deposit at
least $10, and place a real money wager. If you lose your bet, BetMGM
will return your entire stake as bonus bets.
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.
You can check out all of Iain’s bets here!
