San Diego Padres vs St. Louis Cardinals Prediction & Picks - MLB

Prediction published on 5/8/26, 5:57 PM  by Lou Aguila | Modified on 5/10/26 at 11:41 PM in MLB Picks

The San Diego Padres, 12-8 against the spread in their home games this season, seek a convincing win over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 2 of their series.

Current Form:

The St. Louis Cardinals took Game 1 of their series against the San Diego Padres, 2-1, behind outstanding pitching and a tiebreaking run by Jordan Walker. St. Louis improved to 3-2 in their last five games and 22-15 overall this season, trailing the 26-12 Chicago Cubs by three games.

Strong pitching over the last five games has helped the Cardinals lower their ERA to 3.00 during the stretch from 4.45 in the season. Unfortunately, St. Louis’ offense has also taken a downturn in this spell. From averaging 4.8 runs per game on a .238 batting average this season, the Cardinals’ offense has only produced 2.9 runs while batting .208 at the plate over the last five games.

Like the Cardinals, the San Diego Padres have also gone 3-2 in their last five games. San Diego (22-15) is already duking it out with the Los Angeles Dodgers (23-14) for the top spot in the NL West.

The Padres have showcased their elite pitching prowess over their last five games, posting a 2.86 ERA and 0.91 WHIP. Despite scoring one run in Game 1, San Diego has still averaged a respectable 4.5 runs per game on a .225 batting average.

Starting Pitchers: Cardinals RHP Michael McGreevy (2-2, 2.52 ERA) vs. Padres RHP (0-0, 1.81 ERA).

McGreevy has surrendered only one earned run through his last 12 innings. The Cardinals hurler gave up one earned run over six innings in a 2-3 loss to the Mariners on April 26 and then blanked the Los Angeles Dodgers through six innings in a 3-2 win on May 2. Canning dazzled in his Padres debut, surrendering one earned run and striking out seven batters over 5.0 innings in a 4-3 win over the Chicago White Sox on May 3.