The St. Louis Cardinals are off to a terrible start to the 2017 MLB season. That continued on Saturday when they fell 3-2 to the New York Yankees. Carlos Martinez had a rough outing as he had eight walks in 5.2 innings of work. He somehow only allowed two earned runs, likely because he struck out 11 batters. Nonetheless, they were shutdown by C.C. Sabathia, who gave up just one run in 7.1 innings of work.
They will be in tough to get on track against the New York Yankees on Sunday Night Baseball. The Yankees have won six in a row with St. Louis and are still undefeated at home.
Adam Wainwright has played a role in the Cardinals disappointing start. He will need to be better if St. Louis is going to have any shot at taking down the Yankees on Sunday Night Baseball. He’ll be on the mound against Michael Pineda.
Game Details
Date: Sunday April 16th
Time: 8:00 PM ET
Odds: New York -125
Why The Cardinals Might Win….
Wainwright is coming off a disastrous start against the Washington Nationals in which he allowed five earned runs over just four innings of work in a 14-6 loss. However, he was much better in his debut against the Chicago Cubs, so there is reason to believe he could rebound. Wainwright allowed just two earned runs over five innings of work in a 2-1 loss to the Cubs. The former 20-game winner will need to be much more efficient against New York in order to keep their offense off track and give his club a chance.
Meanwhile, St. Louis undoubtedly needs more from its offense after dealing with inconsistency throughout the first couple of weeks. They have scored just 20 runs in their last six games. The Cardinals have undoubtedly underachieved in that area to start the season so there is reason to believe they could be due for a strong performance at the plate.
Randal Grichuk, Matt Carpenter and Dexter Fowler in particular have struggled, so look for them to show a little more urgency at the plate on Sunday night.
Why The Yankees Might Win…
Pineda looked brilliant in his first start at Yankees Stadium. The 28-year-old gave up just one earned run over 7.2 innings of work, striking out 11 in an 8-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Pineda will need to deliver a similar performance on Sunday against the Cardinals. It should help that he hasn’t allowed a walk so far this season. If Pineda could continue to improve his control and avoid the free passes, he could be in for the best season of his career.
Meanwhile, the Yankees offense continued to produce throughout its win streak. Former Cardinals slugger Matt Holliday was scratched Saturday due to back stiffness but could be back in the lineup. Meanwhile, Aaron Judge, Chase Headley, Starlin Castro and Jacoby Ellsbury are all off to excellent starts and if they can get to Wainwright early, they could put up a big number.
Outlook
The Yankees have been absolutely cruising of late. Another favorable pitching matchup should help them pick up another win. Pineda has shown flashes of his immense potential and could be in line for a breakout season if he can finally put it all together this year. Meanwhile, Wainwright looked terrible in his last start against the Nationals and we don’t expect him to bounce back on the road against this red-hot offense.
The other key to consider in this MLB matchup is the price. The Yankees opened up at -125 and that’s when we jumped in. I expect that line to climb throughout the day on Sunday. Just take a look at the facts: They are 7-4, the Cardinals are 3-8. The Yankees have home-field advantage in this spot. The Cardinals offense is cold. The Yankees offense is doing enough. On top of that, the pitching matchup looks even/a slight edge to the Yankees. When you factor all of that in with such a small price tag, it makes sense to investing the Yankees in this spot. They should be at about -150 or so.
With that in mind, we’ll take the Yankees with our MLB picks for Sunday.
Pick: New York -125
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