Pinnacle -1½ +192 BET365 -1½ +165 SportsInteraction N/A BetOnline -1½ +190 Bookmaker N/A

Posted at 2:45 PM EST. 

St. Louis -1½ +192 over SAN FRANCISCO

9:45 PM EST. Johnny Cueto (RHP - SF) is in the final year of the guaranteed portion of a contract that pays him $21-million a year until next offseason, where the Giants will surely buy him out (for a paltry $5-million) or until his arm falls off, whichever comes first. In other words, Dude is going to take his turn in the rotation. A soft swing and miss rate is the first red flag that makes it tough to spot an inflated price like this with Cueto. So, too, is the three year slide on his groundball rate.

The Cardinals took the opener last night, 5-3, doing a number on the Giants bullpen and negating a seven inning outing from Kevin Gausman. Today, Adam Wainwright (RHP - STL) will take the bump for the Cards and we know what we are getting with Wainwright, and that's ok. Dude has the right attitude, too. "It seemingly surprises everyone else, but that's fine. It does not surprise me, because that's what I expect to do." Wainwright has been a steady hand, which makes taking back a price like this so appealing.

We were fading the Cardinals when they were going bad, but the winds of change may be in the air, and that script may have flipped. That win last night was a big one and you could tell a weight was lifted when watching the postgame interviews and reading the quotes from their players. St. Louis’ stock is still low and now a correction to the good is likely forthcoming. One by one the players reiterated that this is a talented team that should be winning more than it’s been losing. The players aren’t wrong. Buy low.

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