St. Louis Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates MLB Betting Tips and Best Bets

The St. Louis Cardinals look to start their season with a win as home favorites (-205) in a season-opening matchup with the Pittsburgh Pirates. First pitch is on Thursday at 4:15 PM ET, live from Busch Stadium. Adam Wainwright gets the starting nod for St. Louis while JT Brubaker is Pittsburgh’s starter for the contest.

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates: Predictions, Betting Odds, Spread, Line

Computer Predictions for Cardinals vs. Pirates

Our computer pick: Pittsburgh Pirates (+173) and Over (8)

Cardinals vs. Pirates Game Info

• St. Louis Cardinals probable starting pitcher: Adam Wainwright
• Pittsburgh Pirates probable starting pitcher: JT Brubaker
• Game Day: Thursday, April 7, 2022
• Game Time: 4:15 PM ET
• Location: St. Louis, Missouri
• Stadium: Busch Stadium

St. Louis Cardinals vs Pittsburgh Pirates Pitching Matchup

Cardinals Starter Adam Wainwright

• Wainwright will make his first start of the season for the Cardinals.
• The 40-year-old right-hander started and threw 5 1/3 innings in his last appearance on Thursday, Oct. 7 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• Over his 32 appearances last season he compiled a 17-7 record and had a 3.05 ERA and a 1.057 WHIP.
• He ranked 11th in ERA (3.05), 10th in WHIP (1.057), and 29th in K/9 (7.6) among qualified pitchers in MLB play last year.

Pirates Starter JT Brubaker

• The Pirates will send Brubaker to the mound for his first start this season.
• The last time the righty took the mound was on Saturday, Sept. 4 last season, when he pitched 3 2/3 innings in a matchup with the Chicago Cubs.
• Last season, he posted a 5.36 ERA with 129 strikeouts and 38 walks in 124 1/3 innings, finishing with a record of 5-13.

Cardinals Betting Picks & Insights

• The Cardinals won 51, or 60.7%, of the 84 games they played as favorites last season.
• Last season, St. Louis won four of its seven games when favored by at least -205 on the moneyline.
• Sportsbooks have implied with the moneyline set for this matchup that the Cardinals have a 67.2% chance to win.
• Games involving St. Louis went over the total set by oddsmakers in 74 of 161 chances last season.
• In 116 games with a spread last season, the Cardinals were 56-60-0 ATS.

Pirates Betting Picks & Insights

• The Pirates were underdogs in 146 games last season and came away with the win 51 times (34.9%) in those contests.
• Last season, Pittsburgh came away with a win 13 times in 39 chances when named as an underdog of +173 or longer on the moneyline.
• Oddsmakers have implied with the moneyline set for this matchup that the Pirates have a 36.6% chance of pulling out a win.
• Pittsburgh and its opponents went over the total last season in 76 of their 157 opportunities.
• The Pirates went 49-63-0 against the spread in their 112 games that had a posted line last season.

Cardinals Leaders & Batting Stats

• Paul Goldschmidt had a batting average of .294 with 177 total hits last season.
• Nolan Arenado hit 34 home runs with 105 RBI last year.
• Tommy Edman hit .262 last season with 41 doubles, three triples, 11 home runs and 38 walks.
• Tyler O’Neill hit 34 home runs on the season while slugging .560.

Pirates Leaders & Batting Stats

• Bryan Reynolds hit 24 home runs and had 90 runs batted in last season, while accumulating a batting average of .302.
• Kevin Newman had 22 doubles, three triples, five home runs and 27 walks while batting .226.
• Ke’Bryan Hayes hit .257 a season ago with 20 doubles, two triples, six home runs and 31 walks.
• Ben Gamel hit .247 with 18 doubles, three triples, eight home runs and 51 walks.

Betting Tips for Cardinals vs. Pirates

Our best bet is the Pirates on the moneyline at +173 after looking at all of the key trends and statistics for this matchup. Our computer predicts the total score will over the total of 8 runs.