Baseball odds on Saturday include a matchup on Fox television between the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets could be going with Johan Santana in this game and his presence would at least keep the baseball lines for this game close.
Baseball odds favor St. Louis more often than not and early in the season the Mets have been underdogs most of the time. New York does not look like a contender in the National League this season while the Cardinals are a very good team. Even with Santana on the mound, the Cardinals will get some respect from gamblers in this game because they are so good at home.
Santana is 1-1 this season. He pitched well in his opening start but was off a little bit last time out against the Nationals. This will be his first start ever at Busch Stadium. He has not done well against Albert Pujols in his career. Pujols is 6-for-12 with two home runs in his career off Santana.
The Cardinals are expected to go with Jaime Garcia on Saturday. The rookie was very good in his first start and he could have some success in this game against a weak New York lineup. The Cardinals swept the three games at Busch Stadium last year against the Mets. St. Louis is one of the best teams in the Major Leagues and they win more often than not, especially at home.
St. Louis has an excellent pitching staff and a very good lineup led by Pujols. The Cardinals can win in a variety of ways and that makes them one of the favorites this season in baseball lines to win the World Series. Last year the Cardinals struggled at times to score runs even with Pujols. This year that has not been the case. Whether or not Mark McGwire should get the credit as the new hitting coach is in debate but what is definitely clear is that St. Louis is red-hot so far this season on offense. Pujols and Matt Holliday are a force in the middle of the lineup and the Cardinals have other players who can also drive in runs. Early in the season the Cardinals were averaging six runs per game. If they can keep that up they are going to be very tough to beat this season in baseball odds.