The MLB betting board has 12 games on the slate Wednesday, including the rubber match between the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers at 9:10 p.m. ET.
The clubs will wrap up their series with a pair of right-handers on the hill, with Carlos Martinez getting the ball for St. Louis and the heavily favored Dodgers countering with Walker Buehler.
Who will take the three-game set? Find out with our best free MLB picks and predictions for Cardinals at Dodgers on June 2.
Cardinals vs Dodgers game info
• Location: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, CA
• Date: Wednesday, June 2, 2021
• Time: 9:10 p.m. ET
• TV: Bally Sports Midwest, SportsNet LA
Cardinals vs Dodgers odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
Compare MLB odds before betting to ensure you get the best number.
MLB Sharp Money and Line Movement Report
By Patrick EversonLos Angeles opened as lofty -230 chalk at TwinSpires and peaked at -250, then receded a few cents to -245, where the moneyline rests at 6 p.m. ET. The Cardinals are attracting 57 percent of tickets, while the Dodgers are drawing 60 percent of cash. The total is steady at 8, with the Over landing 71 percent of tickets/56 percent of money.
Check out the full line movement for this gameCardinals vs Dodgers betting preview
Starting pitchers
Carlos Martinez (3-4, 4.22 ERA): Martinez has had a very mediocre year but has thrown back-to-back quality starts since coming off the injured list with an ankle injury. The once-electric arm isn't going to dominate but he's given the Cardinals some length, going at least six innings in five of his last six starts and allowing more than three runs in the only outing he failed to reach that threshold.
Walker Buehler (3-0, 2.66 ERA): The right-hander has been strong through 10 starts and although his strikeout numbers are down, he's posting a career-best WHIP (0.90) and the lowest walk rate of his career. He put up a 2.18 ERA over five May starts and has allowed just two earned runs in his last three outings.
Weather
Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions with our MLB weather info.
Key injuries
Cardinals: Paul DeJong SS (Out), Harrison Bader OF (Out), Jordan Hicks RP (Out), Andrew Miller RP (Out).
Dodgers: Brusdar Graterol RP (Out), A.J. Pollock OF (Out), Jimmy Nelson RP (Out), Corey Seager SS (Out), Corey Knebel RP (Out).
Find our latest MLB injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Under is 7-1 in the last eight head-to-head meetings in Los Angeles. Find more MLB betting trends for Cardinals vs. Dodgers.
Moneyline pick
Buehler has only been roughed up twice in 10 starts — once against the heavy-hitting Reds and the other coming against the Mariners, who tagged him for three bombs, a season-high mark. He has allowed two runs or fewer in his other eight starts and has gone six-plus innings in all 10 outings.
The 26-year-old has been a strong front-of-the-rotation arm for the Dodgers' dominant starting staff, and the only thing to really nitpick is that he's punching out fewer batters than ever before. He's under a strikeout per inning for the first time in his career and this matchup isn't going to reverse that trend, either.
St. Louis strikes out at the fifth-lowest rate in baseball and makes contact at the second-highest percentage in the National League. So as good as Buehler is, the Cards are going to get the bat on the ball and force a Dodgers defense that doesn't rate well from an advanced metrics standpoint to make plays.
There's a definite pitching mismatch here, but Martinez threw the ball better in May (while still leaving a lot to be desired, mind you) and there's too much value to pass up on a Cardinals team that has won five of its past seven games and is playing at a .564 clip.
The defending World Series champs aren't going to win every time out — in fact, the Dodgers are 19-21 since starting off 13-2 — and these are the types of games to jump on the other side and get the underdog at great odds.
PREDICTION: St. Louis (+205)
Over/Under pick
Martinez produces ground balls at one of the highest rates in the majors. And while that doesn’t make him more valuable than a fly-ball pitcher (park factors play a huge role in determining this, as a pitcher-friendly park can limit home run damage) it does help explain why he doesn’t serve up many taters and has been able to avoid a major blow most times out despite a diminished K rate and velocity.
Those high-end groundball rates (52.9 percent for his career) are thanks to an ability to keep the ball down in the zone with an effective changeup and two-seamer. Take away last season’s five-game sample and Martinez has never been a pitcher who gets burned by the long ball, and this season he has the sixth-lowest home-run-to-fly-ball rate in baseball among pitchers who have thrown 50 innings.
Martinez’s last four starts have been four of the five highest groundball-inducing outings of his season, and he's coming off a season-high six-strikeout performance. Getting the Dodgers to beat the ball into the ground will be the key for him in this start, as Los Angeles boasts tremendous power and has the top OPS mark in baseball against right-handers.
Buehler is great and the Dodgers’ bullpen has been recently, too, posting a 3.37 ERA (seventh in MLB) and the lowest WHIP among all relief corps over the last 30 days, so we’re not expecting the Cardinals to slug their way to victory.
Last night's Cardinals win was the seventh time in the last eight head-to-head meetings in Los Angeles that these teams cashed the Under. Back it again tonight for the series finale.
PREDICTION: Under 8 (-110)
Cardinals vs Dodgers betting card
- St. Louis ML (+205)
- Under 8 (-110)
Picks made on 6/2/2021 at 10:36 a.m. ET
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