Game Information
St. Louis Cardinals (26-21) vs Detroit Tigers (31-16)
Time: 6:45pm CT Monday
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network
Probable pitchers: Sonny Gray (4-1, 4.50 ERA) vs TBD
DraftKings Odds
Moneyline: Cardinals -162, Tigers +136
Total: 8 (over -105, under -115)
Cardinals Finally Back Home
The St. Louis Cardinals return home from a nine-game road trip to take on the Detroit Tigers tonight at Busch Stadium.
The Redbirds went 7-2 on their travels to get to five games over .500 for the season and pull to within 2 games of the Cubs for first place in the NL Central.
Well-Balanced Cards
The Cardinals have shown themselves to be a well-balanced club that is currently thriving across the board with hitting, pitching, and defense. Here are their MLB ranks:
8th in runs per game (4.77)
8th in OPS (.738)
8th in starters’ ERA (3.64)
11th in team ERA (3.72)
1st in fielding percentage (.991)
1st in OAA (Outs Above Average - 28)
Tonight’s starter Sonny Gray actually has the highest ERA in the starting rotation (4.50), but he has been mostly effective with 3 earned runs allowed or less in six of his nine starts. The Cards are 7-2 when Gray is on the mound.
Tigers Have MLB’s Best Record
The Tigers come to St. Louis holding baseball’s best record at 31-16. They have also been highly effective with their hitting, pitching, and defense - MLB ranks below:
4th in runs per game (5.38)
5th in OPS (.757)
5th in starters’ ERA (3.39)
4th in team ERA (3.21)
8th in fielding percentage (.988)
9th in OAA (Outs Above Average - 5)
The Tigers have not announced their starting pitcher for tonight as of the time of this writing. However even if it’s a bullpen game, I don’t think that hurts them much, as the Tigers rank 4th in MLB in bullpen ERA (2.92).
My Pick
I think the Cardinals’ moneyline price is too high against the team with the best record in baseball, so I’m turning to the player prop market for my pick tonight.
All Iván Herrera does is hit. He has a .429 batting average with a 1.348 OPS this year, and that’s coming off a 2024 season where he hit .301 with an .800 OPS.
I’m taking Herrera to have over 1.5 hits + runs + RBI. If you would have taken that bet in every game he has started and finished this season, your record would be 11-2. I don’t think the books have caught on to how good Herrera is quite yet, so take advantage of this attractive -115 price while you can.
Herrera must start and record at least one plate appearance in order for this bet to be live on DraftKings; otherwise, the bet is voided and graded as a push.
Pick: Iván Herrera over 1.5 Hits + Runs + RBI at -115 on DraftKings (bet to -130)
Eric Sontag hosts Domesticated Gamblers every Friday on the Sports Hub STL YouTube channel. Follow him on X @GamblingDads, and click here for his daily picks on all of our St. Louis area sports teams. Picks = betting the game - minus odds betting to win 1 unit, plus odds risking 1 unit. Leans = no strong opinion, not betting the game. Disclaimer