Gray Will Keep Rangers Guessing

Cardinals vs. Rangers, 4:05 ET

The weekend is everyone's favorite time of the week. For me, it is just another day of the week that allows me to find games to bet on. Baseball is an everyday thing basically from the end of March all the way until the middle of October. With the NHL and NBA seasons winding down, the MLB is the only league that will remain for us to bet on until September. Let's lock in on the diamond and get a game between the Cardinals vs. Rangers.

I think when we look at the Cardinals, we are in one of two camps: The first is that you think the Cardinals are a good franchise and they have started to finally turn around after the few bad years. Or, you are in the camp of think that this is a fluke and you see there are still some significant issues with the roster, specifically the starting staff. For me, I think the Cardinals are one of the better run organizations, so their struggles over the past year or two have been rather surprising to me. This season, their offense has been great, and the pitching staff that they kind of pieced together over the past couple of seasons is doing well this year. One big addition from last year that is still paying dividends is Sonny Gray. Gray is 5-1 for the season with a 4.06 ERA  and a 1.16 WHIP. He hasn't been quite as good on the road as he has been at home. Gray has made just three starts for the season and allowed 11 earned runs in 14.2 innings. He has made five May starts this season, and allowed 14 earned runs. He has four home starts, allowing seven earned runs, and one road start, also allowing seven earned runs. Rangers hitters are hitting just .226 against Gray in 62 at-bats. 

(Photo by Brennan Asplen/Getty Images)

Texas is not a team that you should be in two camps about. Basically the Rangers were really good for a season, and outside of that, they've been pretty average. The Rangers have been average this season as well. They have been very good at home this season, but they haven't been able to do much outside of that. After their offense was great for a few season, they have struggled significantly this season. They have one of the lowest batting averages in the entire sport and are one of just five teams that have scored under 200 runs for the season. The reason for their success is the pitching staff. Consider that as of earlier in this week, the Rockies were the only team that has a lower batting average, but the Rangers have almost 20 more wins this season. One guy who has been surprisingly good this season is Patrick Corbin. After having terrible years with the Nationals, Corbin is 3-3 with a 3.75 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. He's been rather consistent, allowing three earned runs in each of his past three games, and overall for the season, he hasn't allowed more than three runs in any game. Cardinals hitters have hit pretty well off of Corbin, batting .270 over 89 at-bats. 

This is one of the games that I think the Cardinals probably have a good chance of winning. Their offense is certainly better than the Rangers, but it is hard to be much worse than the Texas lineup. I'm not fully sold on Corbin keeping this productivity up all season. Although Gray has struggled on the road, it is a small sample size. I think he can hold down the Rangers. Let's take the Cardinals on the run line as I like that better than moneyline for today's bet. 

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