The St. Louis Cardinals will visit the Texas Rangers tonight, and you can watch the action live via ESPN+. The sportsbooks anticipate a relatively close game with the Rangers expected to win only 58.3% of the time, at least per DraftKings Sportsbook. Let’s dive into the betting odds for Wednesday night’s Cardinals-Rangers game to make our MLB predictions and pick the best bet. We’ll also go over whether it’s a good spot to take advantage of the early win bonus at DraftKings.
Readers looking for all the best MLB bets, picks and predictions throughout the season should check out OddsShopper’s articles and market-based models, including our Parlay Builder!
Best MLB Cardinals-Rangers Betting Pick & Prediction: Books Still Too Low on Texas
Cardinals-Rangers Odds
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook
Cardinals: +110 | Rangers: -140
Over 9: -115 | Under 9: -105
The St. Louis Cardinals have floundered early this season and rank dead last in the NL Central. They’ll start RHP Jack Flaherty (3-4) tonight, whose 4.55 ERA and 4.61 xERA don’t inspire much confidence. The Texas Rangers will trot out RHP Jon Gray (6-1), whose 2.50 ERA looks much scarier than his 4.39 xERA. Gray has a solid 3.10 ERA across 29 innings pitched at home.
These teams should be evenly matched on offense. The Cardinals rank fourth in expected weighted on-base average at .342, one spot ahead of the fifth-ranked Rangers at .339. However, the actual results haven’t been as close. The Cardinals rank only ninth in weighted on-base average, or wOBA, at .329; the Rangers rank second at .349. Those numbers suggest regression should hurt Texas and help St. Louis at some point.
The betting trends and splits paint a less friendly picture for St. Louis. The Rangers have the MLB’s second-best home record at 21-8. Their already-impressive team OPS of .807 ticks up to .876 when they play at home as well. In contrast, the Cardinals’ team OPS of .749 dips to .719 on the road, where St. Louis has gone a dismal 13-21 this season. Only seven other teams have worse road records to this point in the year.
The math suggests the Cardinals are better than they’re playing and that Gray is worse than his numbers suggest, but the betting odds don’t leave much value on St. Louis. At DraftKings Sportsbook, the Cardinals are +110 (47.6%) to win. The Rangers are only -140 (58.3%). Pinnacle, a sharp book, has Texas priced at -138 (57.9%), so we’re getting this one with minimal juice. Let’s take advantage of this number and secure the early win bonus from DraftKings — you’ll get paid out if the Rangers lead by two runs at any point!
Best Cardinals-Rangers MLB Pick: Texas Moneyline -140 at DraftKings
