San Diego Padres vs St. Louis Cardinals Preview: Ageless Wonder Wainwright and Cardinals to Continue WIld Card Charge

The winner of the second NL wild-card berth is going to have the tough assignment of facing either the Los Angeles Dodgers or San Francisco Giants on the road. It is safe to say that the Dodgers or Giants will be an MLB betting favorite in that matchup, no matter who the opposition is. At this point, it would be the St. Louis Cardinals, and based on the Cardinals’ current form, betting against them might not be a winning move.

Last night, the Cardinals made it six wins in a row and eight of nine with an 8-2 win over the San Diego Padres. The Cardinals continued their productive week at the plate, scoring seven or more runs for the fourth game in a row, thanks to Dylan Carlson’s two homers and five RBI. On the mound, Miles Mikolas had his best outing of the season, tossing 5.2 scoreless innings to pick up his first regular-season win since September 12, 2019.

The Cardinals now lead by a game and a half over the Padres and are a game up on the Cincinnati Reds, who knocked off Walker Buehler and the Dodgers last night.

With their postseason hopes getting slimmer, the fading Padres need a response and a win in tonight’s showdown. With Adam Wainwright pitching as well as he did a decade ago, the Padres have a tough task ahead of them.

San Diego Padres (76-71) vs St. Louis Cardinals (77-69), Bally Sports Midwest, 7:15 p.m. ET

Probable Pitchers

• San Diego Padres: Yu Darvish (8-10, 4.32 ERA)
• St. Louis Cardinals: Adam Wainwright (16-7, 2.88 ERA)

San Diego Padres vs St. Louis Cardinals MLB Betting Odds

Moneyline

• San Diego Padres +102
• St. Louis Cardinals -120

Total

• OVER 7.5 (-114)
• UNDER 7.5 (-106)

Run Line

• San Diego Padres +1.5 (-210)
• St. Louis Cardinals -1.5 (+172)

San Diego Padres vs St. Louis Cardinals odds are via BetOnline Sportsbook as of Saturday, September 18, 2021 at 1:15 p.m. ET. Want to see betting odds from several top online sportsbooks for the day’s other MLB matchups? Check out our MLB odds.

San Diego Padres vs St. Louis Cardinals MLB Betting Consensus

Moneyline

• 60% San Diego Padres
• 40% St. Louis Cardinals

Total (at O/U 7.5)

• 60% OVER
• 40% UNDER

Run Line (at +/-1.5)

• 100% San Diego Padres
• 0% St. Louis Cardinals

San Diego Padres vs St. Louis Cardinals Matchup: MLB Betting Picks, Odds, Stats and More

San Diego Padres vs St. Louis Cardinals Betting Outlook

Wainwright turned 40 on August 30, and if he continues to pitch like he is right now, he could have a few more seasons left in him. This is the first time since 2014 that Wainwright has won at least 15 games, and he could also finish with an ERA under 3.00 for the first time in a full season since that season as well. And all of this is happening after he started the season by going 0-3 in April and was 3-5 in early June.

Since then, Wainwright is 13-2 with a 2.19 ERA in his last 18 starts. Since the All-Star break, he is 9-2 with a 2.02 ERA in 12 starts, and he has 10 quality starts in his last 11 starts. In his most recent start, he pitched six shutout innings against the New York Mets in a 7-0 win on Monday.

Disastrous Second Half Dooming Darvish and Padres

Whatever has been working for Wainwright needs to rub off on Darvish, who is mired in one of the worst seasons of his MLB career. Darvish got off to a fine start in San Diego and earned his fifth All-Star nod with his success in April, May, and June.

The last few months have been pretty rough for both the Padres and Darvish. In his last 11 starts, he is 1-8 with a 7.67 ERA. In that stretch, he is 0-6 with a 9.69 ERA in six road starts. Things have been notably rough in his most recent travels. In each of his last three road starts, he has allowed five or more runs and hasn’t made it past four innings.

Against a lineup that has scored seven or more runs in four consecutive games for the first time this season, none of that is encouraging.

And it’s even less encouraging when you consider that the Padres have scored all of 13 runs in the last six games that Darvish has started on the road.

And when you consider that the Padres have scored four or fewer runs in 10 of their 14 games in September.

Oh, and when you consider that since scoring 41 runs against the Washington Nationals in their first three games of the second half, the Padres have averaged 3.5 runs per game in 28 road games.

Do I need to say more here?

MLB Betting Trends to Consider for San Diego Padres vs St. Louis Cardinals

• Adding to the numbers above, the Padres have scored four or fewer runs 18 times in their last 28 road games. In that stretch, they have a 10-18 record.
• Also, the Padres have allowed five or more runs 16 times in their last 23 road games.
• In their last 10 games, the Padres have a 3-7 mark. In that stretch, they have been outscored 58-32. 16 of those 32 runs came on Wednesday and Thursday in wins over the Giants. They have been shut out three times and scored two or fewer runs three other times.

San Diego Padres vs St. Louis Cardinals Best Bets

St. Louis Cardinals ML

St. Louis Cardinals Team Total OVER 3.5 Runs

Simply put, there is no real reason to believe in Darvish or the Padres, other than the fact that talent isn’t the issue for either player or team. Based on how bad Darvish has been, how good Wainwright has been, and where each team is at present, the Cardinals have exceptional value on both counts.