Doubleheader Information
St. Louis Cardinals (33-27) vs Kansas City Royals (32-29)
Game 1: 12:45pm CT Thursday
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network
Probable pitchers: Miles Mikolas (4-2, 3.90 ERA) vs Noah Cameron (2-1, 1.05 ERA)
DraftKings moneyline: Cardinals -130, Royals +110
DraftKings total: 8.5 (over -102, under -118)
Game 2: 6:45pm CT Thursday
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network
Probable pitchers: Matthew Liberatore (3-4, 3.08 ERA) vs Cole Ragans (2-3, 4.53 ERA)
DraftKings moneyline: Cardinals -118, Royals -102
DraftKings total: 8 (over -105, under -115)
Twin Bill At Busch
The St. Louis Cardinals will play their fifth doubleheader of the season when they take on the Kansas City Royals in a pair of games on Thursday at Busch Stadium. Wednesday’s game was rained out after the Royals took the series opener 10-7 on Tuesday.
The Cards are 5-3 in their eight doubleheader games this season, including sweeps over the Reds and Mets, a split with the Phillies, and a doubleheader loss to the Red Sox. Of those eight games, four went over the total, three went under, and there was one push.
Game 1 Preview
Wednesday’s scheduled starters Miles Mikolas and Noah Cameron will stay on course and pitch the opener on Thursday afternoon. These two hooked up in a classic pitchers duel on May 17th in Kansas City with the Cardinals coming away with a 1-0 win. Mikolas fired 6 shutout innings, while Cameron allowed just 1 run on 2 hits in 6.1 innings.
Mikolas is looking to bounce back from a poor outing at Baltimore where he permitted 4 runs on 9 hits in 4 innings. It snapped a streak of eight consecutive starts where Mikolas gave up 3 earned runs or less.
Game 2 Preview
Two of the most promising left-handers in baseball will match up in Game 2 with Matthew Liberatore up against Cole Ragans.
Liberatore is coming off a loss at Texas in his last start where the Rangers got to him for 5 runs (4 earned) in 5 innings of work. All of the earned runs came in one bad inning for Liberatore.
Ragans is coming off the injured list to make this start after recovering from a groin injury. His last start before hitting the IL was a loss to the Cardinals on May 16th when he allowed 4 runs in 5 innings.
My Lean For Game 1 and My Pick For Game 2
I typically do not like betting doubleheaders because of too much unknown with odd lineups and unpredictable bullpen usage.
That’s why I’m staying away from betting Game 1. If forced to make a pick, I’d go with the Cardinals to win. I’d lean with Mikolas putting together a competitive start, while I think Cameron will come back down to earth after an unsustainably fantastic start to his big league career.
But I’m willing to stick my neck out and place a wager on Game 2 because I’m eliminating bullpens from the equation and I would like this bet no matter who is in each lineup. I’m taking the under in the first five innings because I have certifiable man crushes on both these left-handers.
I’m not going to let one bad inning in Texas deter me from being so enamored with Liberatore. I think he bounces back against a Royals lineup that ranks 28th in MLB in runs per game.
And Ragans is coming off the IL with a fresh arm after recovering from his groin injury, and I think he’s ready to go on a dominant run. Ragans has been incredibly unlucky this season, as his 4.53 ERA comes with a 2.25 xERA, 1.98 FIP, and 2.19 xFIP.
The under 4.5 in the first five innings for Game 2 is juiced at -145, so I’m going to pair it with both teams to score in the game to bring the odds down to -110.
Lean for Game 1: Cardinals on the moneyline at -130 on DraftKings
Pick for Game 2: Same Game Parlay priced at -110 on DraftKings - Under 4.5 in the first five innings AND Both teams to score 1+ runs in the game (bet to -120)
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