New York Mets vs. St. Louis Cardinals Predictions, Picks and MLB Preview – August 25, 2016

New York Mets vs. St. Louis Cardinals Betting Preview

Where: Busch Stadium, St. Louis

When: Thursday, August 25, 2016, 7:15 PM ET

Line: New York Mets (+145) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (-160); total 8.5 – view all MLB lines

TV Broadcast: ESPN

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Betting on the New York Mets (+145)

With Steven Matz awaiting the result of his MRI test, the Mets will give the ball to Seth Lugo instead when they take on St. Louis tonight. Lugo is primarily a reliever but has been asked to start in lieu of Matz. This will be Lugo’s second start of the season.

In his previous mound appearance, Lugo tossed for 6.2 innings and allowed three earned runs on seven hits while striking out three batters in an 8-1 loss to San Francisco on August 19. Lugo, who has a 3.04 ERA thus far this year, will be facing a Cardinals offense that has struggled a bit since the start of the season’s second half with a team batting average of .244 during the period, good for just 12th in the NL as of this writing.

The Mets aren’t hitting that much better either with a collective batting average of .246 since the All-Star break. That said, the team’s hitters have a combined career BA of .289 against St. Louis starter, Adam Wainwright. Jay Bruce is .293 (12-for-41) with two homers and 10 RBI in his career against Wainwright, while James Loney is .293 (16-for-31) with five doubles and three RBI.

Betting on the St. Louis Cardinals (-160)

While we spoke briefly above about the mediocre batting average of the Cards, you can’t say they lack power. The Cards have a slugging percentage of .454, fourth best in the NL this August.

St. Louis’ could’ve been driving more runs if only the Cards’ leadoff hitters were doing better. Greg Garcia is hitting just .113 this month, Matt Carpenter is at .220, while Kolten Wong is sitting on an ugly .188 batting average. Perhaps facing a converted starter like the Mets’ Lugo will help give the spark for those aforementioned players.

The Cards are going to need that offense to step up considering the not-so desirable career numbers of Wainwright against the Mets. Wainwright is 3-4 with a 5.17 ERA in eight starts versus the Mets dating back to 2005.

Wainwright had a decent performance in his last outing, giving up three earned runs and five hits while fanning five batters in a 4-3 win over the Phillies on August 19. He is now 9-7 with a 4.71 ERA on the season.

Writer’s Prediction

New York wins, 5-3.

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