Skip to content

MLB weekly best bets: Ride Cardinals' win streak vs. Brewers

John Fisher / Getty Images Sport / Getty

We're finishing the season on a heater with a 9-3 record over the last two weeks.

Here are the best bets for the final week of this campaign.

Mariners (-115) vs. Athletics
Sept. 27, 7:10 p.m.

Can the Mariners parlay their winning ways into the final AL wild-card spot? Seattle has won seven of its last eight games entering this week's series with the Athletics, who lost four straight to the Mariners before sweeping the Astros this past weekend.

Seattle will trot out veteran righty Chris Flexen, who has been the second-most profitable starter this season (+14.26 units) while allowing two or fewer runs during 11 of his 15 starts since the beginning of July. Three of those outings came against Oakland, which has managed four runs over 19 innings when facing Flexen, including Wednesday's seven-inning, one-run effort.

Athletics starter Cole Irvin gave up three runs over five innings during that Wednesday clash, and he's lasted fewer than five frames in each of his previous three starts against the Mariners, leading to a 7.56 ERA across four meetings. He'll struggle to turn that around in this one.

Dodgers -1.5 (TBD) vs. Padres
Sept. 28, 10:10 p.m.

Just a few short months ago, this game profiled as a crucial matchup in the race for the NL's top seed. That's still the case for the Dodgers, who trail the Giants by two games for the NL West lead. However, the Padres are playing for nothing after being eliminated from the postseason on Saturday.

It hardly mattered even when there was a playoff carrot dangling in front of San Diego's face. The Friars have lost 29 of their last 40 games dating back to Aug. 11 and are a miserable 3-13 over their last 16 games with a -2.25 run differential. The Dodgers are 12-3 during the same stretch, winning 10 of those games by at least two runs.

Former Cy Young favorite Walker Buehler hasn't been his sharpest in September, though he isn't struggling like Padres ace Yu Darvish, who carries a brutal 6.62 ERA over his last 10 starts into this contest. Don't count on that improving in a meaningless start.

Cardinals (TBD) vs. Brewers
Sept. 29, 7:45 p.m.

How could anyone bet against the Cardinals right now? St. Louis has won a ridiculous 16 straight games to seize control of the second NL wild-card spot, though the Cards are still seven games back of the Brewers for the division lead with six matchups left.

That means Milwaukee can cruise to the end of the regular season without regard for playoff positioning, as the club is locked into the No. 2 seed in the NL. It looks like the team knows it, as the Brewers are 5-7 over their last 12 games, with the Cardinals the only club they faced that's posting a winning record.

Milwaukee starter Adrian Houser has pitched well against St. Louis this year, though the Cardinals are averaging 6.8 runs with a 9.8% barrel rate during their win streak. That should play well against Houser's soft-contact approach and net another win for the Redbirds on Wednesday.

C Jackson Cowart is a sports betting writer at theScore. You can follow him on Twitter (@CJacksonCowart) or email him at cjackson.cowart@thescore.com.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox