Miami Marlins vs. St. Louis Cardinals Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 6/27/2022

Time: 7:45 p.m. ET

Venue: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, MO

Where to watch: Bally Sports Florida, Bally Sports Midwest

DraftKings: Cardinals -135, Marlins +115

BetMGM: Cardinals -135, Marlins +115

Caesars: Cardinals -135, Marlins +115

Marlins: 33-38

Cardinals: 41-34

This was not the weekend for trying to make ground if you are the Miami Marlins or St. Louis Cardinals, and in particular I mean the Cardinals. Because while we can look at this from a broader lens and say that the Cardinals aren't in really any danger, I do think we can look at this three game series over the weekend against the Chicago Cubs and really make the case that there are issues within the Cardinals that I don't think we have fully grasped yet.

And while the Cardinals are still very much in the race for first place in the National League central, the Milwaukee Brewers had a much more successful weekend this past weekend against the Toronto Blue Jays, taking two of three in a really surprising manner. Now the Cardinals must take on a Miami team that I also feel left some wins on the table by losing two of three to the New York Mets over the weekend. And while that wind Miami God was fairly impressive, it still doesn't highlight the fact that Miami is still in that weird phase where they should be good but we're not sure where they are yet.

It's one thing when we can look at wins and see how they are made, and draw up our own conclusions from that vantage point. But when you look at how the Cardinals jumped out to a five run lead through three innings, you don't expect them to completely fall off the rails. And normally I wouldn't in this case and I'm not going to this time, because Jack Flaherty is hurt again after lasting only two innings before exiting the game. Before he left he had only thrown one hit baseball and was up in the range of 49 pitches.

It turned into a bullpen game and when it turns into a bullpen game when the starting pitcher is immediately removed from contention, everything just goes haywire. Chicago answered with five runs of their own in the 4th inning and the game remained tied all the way until extra innings where the Cubs eventually found a way to win.

It's kind of funny that when we look at this rivalry between Chicago and the Cardinals, that whoever is the home team is destined to lose the series or at least be tied. Go back just a month or so ago and the Cubs, who were playing pretty good baseball at the time, lost a series to the Cardinals in Chicago. Now Fast forward, where Chicago is not great and the Cardinals aren't any better, the Cardinals found a way to lose two of three to a much inferior team.

That even keel between the Cardinals and the Brewers in the division is starting to distance itself once again. And until we get to the point where the Cardinals can actually keep things at a consistent rate, we really can't take them seriously. They do have the MVP favorite right now in Paul Goldschmidt but beyond that it's still a very young team with a lot of injuries and inconsistencies to the pitching staff. And until they figure that out, it's hard to take the cardinal seriously.

Much like I want to take the Marlins seriously, but I don't feel that they are there yet. It wasn't that long ago when they were actually being very competitive against the Mets, and you wonder if that group is eventually going to run out of gas and you wonder if that pitching staff that has gotten them to this point is eventually going to fall off and feel some arm soreness.

But the Marlins did find a way to beat the Mets in the series finale on Sunday, and I think in that situation you take any positive that you can find. Miami is not going to make the playoffs. Miami is not going to make any noise as far as playoff contention goes. But the building blocks are starting to show, and if you can get the building blocks to actually make some sort of move, then you have a decent chance of actually going far in the future.

And we should be treated to a very fun pitching matchup on Monday when Miami sends young righthander Pablo Lopez to the mound against the 41 year old veteran Adam Wainwright.

Normally you take the veteran in this situation and roll with it, and given the fact that Lopez has struggled since his blistering start, I am of the mind set to take Wainwright in this matchup and trust that the Cardinals will actually get back on track. Cardinals win 6-3

Marlins are 9-15 this season as a road underdog between +100 and +150.

Marlins are 20-22 in night games this season.

Cardinals are 22-14 at home this season.

Marlins:
Jon Berti (R) LF
Miguel Rojas (R) SS
Garrett Cooper (R) DH
Jesus Aguilar (R) 1B
Nick Fortes (R) C
Jesus Sanchez (L) CF
Bryan De La Cruz (R) RF
Luke Williams (R) 2B
Erik Gonzalez (R) 3B
SP - Pablo Lopez

Cardinals:
Tommy Edman (S) SS
Brendan Donovan (L) LF
Paul Goldschmidt (R) 1B
Nolan Arenado (R) 3B
Nolan Gorman (L) 2B
Juan Yepez (R) DH
Dylan Carlson (S) RF
Harrison Bader (R) CF
Ivan Herrera (R) C
SP - Adam Wainwright

Batting average: Garrett Cooper -- .307

Home runs: Jazz Chisholm Jr. -- 14

RBI: Jazz Chisholm Jr. -- 45

Wins: Sandy Alcantara -- 7

ERA: Sandy Alcantara -- 1.95

Batting average: Paul Goldschmidt -- .337

Home runs: Paul Goldschmidt -- 18

RBI: Paul Goldschmidt -- 62

Wins: Miles Mikolas -- 5

ERA: Miles Mikolas -- 2.57