The Los Angeles Dodgers host the St. Louis Cardinals on August 5, 2025. First pitch from Dodger Stadium is scheduled for 10:10 p.m. EDT; the game will be broadcast on SportsNet LA.
Find my MLB betting preview and Cardinals vs Dodgers prediction below, as well as probable pitchers, betting trends, injury reports and more.
My Cardinals vs Dodgers Prediction
- Cardinals vs Dodgers picks: Over 9
My Cardinals vs Dodgers best bet is Over 9 with the best odds currently on Fanatics. Make sure to find the best odds by checking our live MLB odds page.
Cardinals vs Dodgers Odds
| Cardinals Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+1.5 -124 | 9 -121o / -101u | +157 |
| Dodgers Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-1.5 +102 | 9 -121o / -101u | -194 |
Cardinals vs Dodgers Projected Starting Pitchers
| RHP Miles Mikolas (STL) | Stat | RHP Emmett Sheehan (LAD) |
|---|---|---|
| 6-8 | W-L | 2-2 |
| 0.7 | fWAR (FanGraphs) | 0.8 |
| 4.83/5.00 | ERA /xERA | 3.60/3.31 |
| 4.58/4.62 | FIP / xFIP | 2.75/4.27 |
| 1.28 | WHIP | 1.24 |
| 11.3% | K-BB% | 15.4% |
| 38.2% | GB% | 25% |
| 89 | Stuff+ | 102 |
| 107 | Location+ | 100 |
Kenny Ducey’s Cardinals vs Dodgers Preview
St. Louis Cardinals Betting Preview
It's been another maddening season for Miles Mikolas and all his believers. Once a master of piling up outs on contact, the control expert has been rocked to the tune of a .277 Expected Batting Average and .513 Expected Slugging this year; the former is a repeat performance of 2024 while the latter is a huge jump in the wrong direction.
Mikolas isn't going to walk many, but he's not likely to strike many out either — and that makes for an interesting matchup against the patient Dodgers.
The righty's favored fly balls more in the last few years, which is generally a good idea when you pitch inside Busch Stadium which has been known to hold the ball in the yard. That's where he's had his best outings, too, holding a 3.67 ERA at home with just six homers against him in ten outings versus a 6.00 ERA and 12 home runs in 11 road starts.
Mikolas, at the very least, will have a hard-working defense behind him which has ranked top-five in Outs Above Average this season, showing equal promise in the infield and outfield. Those position players may not give him much support in the form of runs, however, ranking 27th in wRC+ over the last two weeks.
Los Angeles Dodgers Betting Preview
Emmett Sheehan was given a firm nod of approval by the Dodgers' front office when they shipped Dustin May off to the Red Sox at last week's trade deadline. The youngster has come back from injury in a huge way, pitching to a 3.60 ERA in his first 25 innings of the season, and that was enough to influence Dave Roberts and company to keep him in the rotation as the team's sixth starter.
For a team that's dealt with so many injuries to their best arms, a steady presence every fifth day is a blessing, and that's just what Sheehan has been. He's registered a solid 25% strikeout rate, backed by a solid 28% whiff rate that sits well above the league average. He's also yielded a large complement of fly balls at nearly six percentage points above average, and even with that profile, he's managed a low .355 xSLG thanks to a huge number of pop-ups.
That's always a tricky one to figure out, because that number is inflated by a small sample and bound to come down, but he's actually had an abnormally high pop-up rate throughout the minors with a ton of fly balls in all. He's been able to get outs on contact at almost every stop comfortably, but one thing that may give us a little pause here is his 5.25 home ERA this year, which is hardly surprising given the hitter-friendly nature of Dodger Stadium.
Cardinals vs Dodgers Prediction, Betting Analysis
Sheehan is as extreme a fly-ball pitcher as they come, and so far this season, the Cardinals have handled these types, ranking 13th in OPS as opposed to last against ground-ballers. That's a split that's certainly worth noting, particularly with L.A.'s outfield defense struggling this season.
I'm as big a believer in Sheehan as they come, but this isn't a fantastic matchup for many reasons. Another is that the Cardinals are still running a low 20% strikeout rate next to a decent 8.9% walk rate in the last two weeks, which should take away some of the punchouts that have helped the youngster so much.
On the other side of the coin, the Dodgers have really begun to slump — ranking 19th in wRC+ over the last 14 days after a month or so of mediocrity for their standards. Mikolas is usually a sitting duck out there, and even with L.A.'s recent slump, I have enough faith in them to punch across some runs given the righty's issues with power bats — particularly away from home.
This number is a very sharp one, but I'm going to put my faith behind both teams' offenses after a low-scoring affair on Monday.
Pick: Over 9 (-110) | Play to -120
Moneyline
I will not be betting either side of the moneyline.
Run Line (Spread)
I'm also staying away from run line bets.
Over/Under
As mentioned above, I like the Over for tonight's game.
