Ricky Dimon
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The MLB week wraps up with a Sunday Night Baseball showdown between National League Central rivals. It’s the St. Louis Cardinals hosting the Chicago Cubs, and it is getting the same game parlay treatment it deserves. Let’s take a look at the best such option for this rivalry contest, and be sure to check out our full game preview for picks on the side and total.
Cardinals ML (-130)
Nolan Arenado to hit a home run (+430)
Adam Wainwright Over 5.5 strikeouts (-110)
Part of the value in same game parlays, of course, is that all of its components can be correlated if you so choose. That is the entire plan here, as Nolan Arenado going yard and Adam Wainwright mowing down batters left and right would obviously go well with a St. Louis win. Let’s break down each of the three legs one by one.
Cardinals ML (-130)
Wainwright is coming off his worst outing of his season (4.0 innings against the Padres, allowing six runs on eight hits—including three home runs). However, there are reasons to be confident in a bounce-back performance. Besides that start, Wainwright had been effective. He is still posting a 4.63 ERA and an xERA of only 3.87. Those are not bad numbers. The Cardinals’ offense continues to be explosive with Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt boasting a .429 and .296 average, respectively, in the last seven games. The Cubs are countering with right-hander Zach Davies, who has been having a down season with a 5.58 ERA and a 6.98 xERA. St. Louis has the more reliable pitcher and offense for this series finale, so you should feel good about the home team here.
Nolan Arenado to hit a home run (+430)
Arenado has hit 10 dingers this year and seven have come against right-hander pitchers. In 2020, seven of his eight HRs came at the expense of righties. In other words, even though Arenado bats righty himself he will have no issues facing Davies. The former Colorado Rockies star is 5-for-16 lifetime against Davies with one homer. Arenado has gone deep in four of the last seven games, and there is no reason why he can’t do so again.
Adam Wainwright Over 5.5 strikeouts (-110)
Wainwright has struck out at least five hitters in six of his last seven starts. The only exception was the blemish earlier this week, and that was only because he worked just 4.0 innings. He is familiar with these Chicago batters and knows how to strike them out—which they do a lot, anyway. Four different Cubs have fanned at least 42 times in 2021, including Javier Baez with 57. Three others have struck out at least 34 times.
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