Game Information
St. Louis Cardinals (78-80) at San Francisco Giants (77-81)
Time: 8:45pm CT Wednesday
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network
Probable pitchers: Sonny Gray (14-8, 4.33 ERA) vs JT Brubaker (0-0, 3.65 ERA)
DraftKings Odds
Moneyline: Giants -113, Cardinals -108
Total: 7.5 (over -117, under -103)
Cards Hope To Stay Alive
The St. Louis Cardinals look to keep their faint playoff hopes alive when they meet the San Francisco Giants in the finale of a three-game series this evening.
The Cards stormed back from 5 runs down to beat the Giants 9-8 last night to mathematically stay in the race. The Redbirds would officially be eliminated tonight with either a loss in San Francisco or a Mets win against the Cubs.
Gray Goes For #15
Sonny Gray hopes to become a 15-game winner tonight when he makes his final start of the season. He has never won 15 games before in his career, and he also needs 6 strikeouts tonight to reach 200 for the year.
Gray has an outstanding strikeout to walk ratio this season with 194 K’s and just 36 walks. That 5.39 K/BB ratio is the best mark of any pitcher in the National League.
Bullpen Game For Giants
The Giants were officially eliminated from playoff contention last night. They are fading down the stretch with 9 losses in their last 11 games, and with one more defeat, they will be guaranteed to have a losing record for the third consecutive season.
It’ll be a bullpen game tonight for the Giants with JT Brubaker serving as the opener. The right-hander has a 3.65 ERA this season in 16 games between the Yankees and Giants.
My Pick
I want to get creative to find a way to back Gray tonight as he chases two notable milestones with 15 wins and 200 strikeouts.
Gray has struck out at least 6 batters in 8 of his last 9 starts, and that’s the number he needs to hit tonight to reach 200. I like his chances to pitch deep in the game and hit that number with the Cardinals having used six relievers last night. However, you need to lay -166 for Gray to reach 6 K’s, so I want to find an add-on for a better price.
If you tack on Gray to allow at least 1 earned run (which he has done in 15 consecutive starts), that brings your price down to -105. I like the looks of that.
Pick: Same Game Parlay priced at -105 on DraftKings - Sonny Gray to have 6+ strikeouts AND allow 1+ earned runs (bet to -115)
Eric Sontag hosts Domesticated Gamblers every Wednesday night on the STL Sports Central 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