Padres vs Cardinals Odds, Picks, and Predictions – Martinez vs Hicks
- The San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals face off at Busch Stadium on Monday, May 30th
- Bob Melvin’s club is in the mix atop the NL West standings, while Oliver Marmol’s group is trying to keep pace the NL Central-leading Brewers
- Read below for the Padres vs Cardinals odds and betting preview
The San Diego Padres (30-17) face the St. Louis Cardinals (26-21) on Monday at Busch Stadium. The series opener has a scheduled first pitch of 2:15pm ET. The Friars will send Nick Martinez to the mound, while the Redbirds counter with Packy Naughton.
The Pads are a slight favorite in this one and began the season with +375 odds to win the NL West — but have seen those odds shorten to +300.
Meantime, the Cards have +240 odds to win the NL Central after starting at +250. St. Louis is projected to win 85.5, while Melvin’s squad is expected to win 87.5 games in the MLB win totals.
Padres vs Cardinals Odds
| Team | Runline | Moneyline | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego Padres | -1.5 (+145) | -115 | Ov 8.5 (-110) |
| St. Louis Cardinals | +1.5 (-170) | -105 | Un 785 (-110) |
Odds as of May 29th at Caesars Sportsbook
San Diego vs St. Louis Probable Pitchers
The 31-year-old Martinez has gone at least five innings in five of his seven turns in the rotation this season with one quality start coming on May 5th in a 2-1 victory over the Marlins.
San Diego has gone 4-3 in his starts (and 4-4 in all appearances). He went five innings against Milwaukee last Monday, allowing five hits, two earned runs and three walks while striking out five in an eventual 3-2 win.
Nick Martinez doesn’t have the greatest stuff in the world but he battles every time out there and plays with energy I’m a fan https://t.co/8h8VgnCMUB
— matty b v2.0 (@yoomatty) May 24, 2022
The 26-year-old Naughton will make only his second start of the 2022 campaign against the Padres on Memorial Day. St. Louis sports a rough 1-5 record in the rookie lefty’s appearances and lost in his previous start — a 5-3 defeat to Baltimore on May 10th in which Naughton only lasted 3.1 innings, allowing five hits, three earned runs and no walks while striking out a pair of Orioles.
packy naughton is an 80 grade name pic.twitter.com/i288oBm3gV
— Cut4 (@Cut4) April 27, 2022
The bright side for Cardinal fans: Naughton has not allowed an earned run in any of his other five appearances (6.0 total innings).
Martinez vs Naughton Stats
| 2-2 | Record | 0-1 |
| 3.86 | ERA | 2.89 |
| 4.42 | xERA | 3.20 |
| 24.6% | K% | 21.1% |
The Padres enter the Gateway City having won four of their last five series, including taking two of three from the Buccos at home. Trent Grisham — who entered Sunday’s game hitting just .161 with only one homer — walked San Diego off with a two-run blast in the 10th inning of a 4-2 win.
Early NL MVP favorite Manny Machado, who leads the league with a .357 average, missed his second straight game with tennis elbow. Melvin said Machado will be back in the lineup on Monday.
Padres fans were going so nuts after the Trent Grisham walk-off homer that the camera was shaking. pic.twitter.com/w9vdihYM0s
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) May 29, 2022
Meantime, the Cardinals have split their last two series (a two-game set with the Blue Jays and a four-game set with the Brewers). The Cards’ offense was shut down by reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes on Sunday, only mustering four hits.
First baseman Paul Goldschmidt has been the key offensive player for St. Louis over the last week, slashing .417/.462/.917 with four homers and 11 runs driven in. He went 3-for-4 at the plate (including his 10th big fly of the year) in Saturday’s 8-3 win and is second to Machado in the NL batting race, hitting .352.
Paul Goldschmidt has been absolutely ridiculous in his past 15 games… you love to see it. #STLCards
28-62
13 Runs
7 HR
25 RBI
AVG – .452
OBP – .478
SLG – .935
OPS – 1.413— Cards Convo ™ (@CardinalsConvo) May 28, 2022
The Cardinals currently have +3300 odds to win the Fall Classic, while the Padres are at +17000 in the World Series odds.
SD vs STL Last 10 Meetings
| Date | Home Team | Away Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/19/21 | Cardinals | Padres | STL, 8-7 |
| 9/18/21 | Cardinals | Padres | STL, 3-2 |
| 9/17/21 | Cardinals | Padres | STL, 8-2 |
| 5/16/21 | Padres | Cardinals | SD, 5-3 |
| 5/15/22 | Padres | Cardinals | SD, 13-3 |
| 5/14/22 | Padres | Cardinals | SD, 5-4 |
| 10/2/20 | Padres | Cardinals | SD, 4-0 |
| 10/1/20 | Padres | Cardinals | SD, 11-9 |
| 9/30/20 | Padres | Cardinals | STL, 7-4 |
| 6/30/19 | Padres | Cardinals | STL, 5-3 |
Padres vs Cardinals Prediction
Getting Machado back after a couple days off should help San Diego’s struggling offense. And Naughton starting the game scares me. But Martinez is no Burnes.
And after getting shut down by one of the best arms in baseball, Goldschmidt and Co. figure to be in better shape offensively and pick up a victory at home in the series opener of a possible postseason preview.
Pick: Cardinals ML (-105)
Blair Johnson is a veteran journalist and seasoned sports content creator. He has been writing and producing content as long as he can remember, with such familiar names as CNN, NFL Media and Yahoo. Blair currently lives and works in the greater Los Angeles area.
