The Kansas City Royals (7-13) and St. Louis Cardinals (12-9) open an unusual 3-game series Monday with a 1:15 p.m. ET first pitch at Busch Stadium. Let’s analyze Tipico Sportsbook‘s lines around the Royals vs. Cardinals odds with MLB picks and predictions.
Season series: St. Louis leads 1-0.
Monday’s contest in St. Louis is a make-up date for an April 13 postponement. The Missouri foes then travel to Kansas City for a regularly scheduled 2-games series Tuesday and Wednesday
Kansas City heads east on I-70 after being swept 3-0 by the New York Yankees over the weekend. The Royals are just 2-8 over their last 10 games.
The Cardinals are coming off a 7-5 Sunday win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. The victory salvaged a split in a 4-game set against the Snakes. Monday’s matinee affair will mark the Redbirds’ seventh straight game at home. St. Louis is 6-5 across 11 games at Busch this season.
Royals at Cardinals projected starters
RHP Zack Greinke vs. LHP Steven Matz
Greinke (0-1, 2.86 ERA) makes his 5th start of the season. He has a 1.09 WHIP, 1.2 BB/9 and 2.5 K/9 through 22 IP.
- Has held current St. Louis batters to a .667 OPS in past meetings.
- Allowed 3 runs in 6 IP at the Chicago White Sox Wednesday in his last start after allowing just 4 runs over his first 3 starts.
Matz (2-1, 6.11 ERA) makes his fifth start. He has a 1.70 WHIP, 2.5 BB/9 and 11.7 K/9 through 17 2/3 IP.
- Allowed 8 base runners and 4 R in 4 IP against the New York Mets Wednesday in his last outing.
Royals at Cardinals odds and lines
Odds provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 10:24 a.m. ET.
- Money line: Royals +135 (bet $100 to win $135) | Cardinals -170 (bet $170 to win $100)
- Against the spread (ATS): Royals +1.5 (-160) | Cardinals -1.5 (+130)
- Over/Under (O/U): 7.5 (O: +100 | U: -125)
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Royals at Cardinals picks and predictions
Prediction
Cardinals 5, Royals 3
Money line
Ball-in-play figures largely point to Greinke being worse than his surface numbers so far and Matz being significantly better. Throw in the nature of this 1-game stop before the Royals and Cards head west to K.C., and pegging St. Louis as a 60-63% probability is reasonable.
Keep an eye on this line. We would want to get the Cardinals at -165 or better.
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Run line/Against the spread
Kansas City owns a .594 OPS against southpaws. The Redbird relief corps — especially at the back end — figures to be a bit more manageable without running into fatigue in this spot.
The Cards are 5-2 in games decided by 5 runs or more.
TAKE ST. LOUIS -1.5 (+130).
Over/Under
Too many cross signals to parse. PASS.
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