San Francisco Giants vs. St. Louis Cardinals Odds, Pick and Prediction

Sports betting analyst Nick Galaida breaks down Giants vs. Cardinals odds, previews each team, and delivers a free pick for Saturday’s game. Make sure to use our Caesars bonus to get $1100 first-bet insurance!

Giants vs. Cardinals Odds

On Saturday, the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals will continue a three-game set at Busch Stadium. San Francisco won the series opener by a final score of 8-2 for their sixth consecutive victory. St. Louis has lost five of their last six contests, falling 3.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central division in the process. Today, the Giants will send Jakob Junis to the hill, who will be opposed by Dakota Hudson. Oddsmakers anticipate a tightly-contested affair in this one, pricing this matchup as a pick’em on the moneyline.

Let’s take a deeper look at the matchup to see where bettors can find value at sportsbooks for this matchup.

San Francisco Giants

Jakob Junis enters today’s action with a 1.20 ERA, 3.47 xERA, and a 2.80 FIP through 15.0 innings of work this year. In his most recent start, he held the Cardinals to two earned runs on three hits in 5.0 innings, while striking-out five batters. A change in pitch-mix, increasing his slider, sinker, and changeup usage, while completely abandoning his fastball has paid dividends in the early portion of the new campaign. Thus far, opposing hitters have a putrid .145 wOBA against his slider, and an incredible .000 wOBA against his changeup with a sample size of 31 events.

Junis is backed this afternoon by one of baseball’s hottest offensive attacks. The Giants rank 1st in OPS across the last seven days, 9th in OPS across the last two weeks, and 8th across the last month. Against right-handed pitching in 2022, San Francisco ranks 9th in OPS, 19th in ISO, 5th in walk percentage, and 8th in strikeout percentage. This group has the potential to do damage each time they take the field.

Zack Littell, Jarlin Garcia, and Dominic Leone each threw yesterday, but only Garcia has thrown more than once in the last three days ahead of Saturday’s first pitch. Manager Gabe Kapler should have everyone available in the late innings as needed today. Since April 14th, the San Francisco arm barn has posted a league-best 2.88 FIP.

St. Louis Cardinals

Through six turns in the rotation in 2022, Dakota Hudson owns a 3.56 ERA, 5.20 xERA, and a 5.34 FIP. In his most recent outing against the Giants, Hudson was tagged for three earned runs in only 4.2 innings. He allowed nine baserunners without striking-out a batter. Entering play, Hudson ranks in the 26th percentile in average exit velocity, 7th percentile in hard-hit percentage, 20th percentile in xwOBA, 9th percentile in strikeout percentage, 21st percentile in walk percentage, and the 10th percentile or worse in both whiff percentage and chase rate. His velocity and spin rates are also underwhelming, to say the least. Hudson could have another difficult day today.

The St. Louis offense ranks 11th in OPS across the last seven days, 15th in OPS across the last two weeks, and 24th in OPS across the last month of action. Facing right-handed pitching in 2022, the Cardinals rank 22nd in OPS, 23rd in ISO, 15th in walk percentage, and 4th in strikeout percentage. Though this is not the most difficult matchup for this lineup, it would still be surprising to see them explode for a massive performance against Junis and a dominant San Francisco relief unit.

The Cardinals used Jake Walsh, Packy Naugthon, Jake Woodford, Nick Wittgren, and T.J. McFarland is last night’s defeat, but this is less of a concern than it might appear on the surface. In high-leverage situations, the Cardinals primarily turn to Giovanny Gallegos, Genesis Cabrera, and Ryan Helsley–each of whom have thrown 10 pitches or less across the last three days. If this game is close into the late innings, the Cardinals are in good shape. 

Free MLB Betting Pick For Today

The San Francisco Giants are the better team in this matchup in nearly all phases of the game. San Francisco has the better starting pitcher, the better offense, and the more talented bullpen. Defensively, both of these teams have made the same number of errors, with only a marginal difference in fielding percentage. Bettors should expect the Giants to take care of business once again today.

PICK: Giants Moneyline @ -105