St. Louis (63-61) and Cincinnati (59-64) meet at the Great American Ball Park for an untraditional five-game series due to make up games. The two will meet twice today for a doubleheader. The Cardinals are 5-3 against the Reds this season, but Cincinnati won the previous series, 2-1.
This matchup also features the two frontrunners for National League Rookie of the Year, Sal Stewart and JJ Wetherholt. The Cardinals’ Wetherholt is the slight favorite despite Stewart having the hotter bat in the second half of the season.
In August, the Reds are hitting an MLB-worst .191 as a team and ranks 24th or worse in OPS, OBP, and SLG. However, Cincinnati has brought power with 20 home runs (T-6th), but only 51 runs scored over 14 games (24th). The pitching staff owns a 4.51 ERA (24th) in August as well.
St. Louis has won four of the last five games and outscored their opponents, 28-9. The Cardinals offense has been top 10 this month in a lot of categories, including batting average (.257) and 71 runs scored (T-9th).
Let’s dive into tonight’s matchup and find a sweat or two.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch first pitch, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game details & how to watch Game 1 between the Cardinals at Reds
- Date: Monday, August 17, 2026
- Time: 1:40 PM EST
- Site: Great American Ball Park
- City: Cincinnati, OH
- Network/Streaming: ESPN / MLB TV
Game details & how to watch Game 2 between the Cardinals at Reds
- Date: Monday, August 17, 2026
- Time: 6:40 PM EST
- Site: Great American Ball Park
- City: Cincinnati, OH
- Network/Streaming: ESPN / MLB TV
Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.
Odds for the Cardinals at the Reds
The latest odds for Game 1 as of Monday:
- Moneyline: St. Louis Cardinals (-112), Cincinnati Reds (+104)
- Spread: Cardinals -1.5 (+135), Reds+1.5 (-163)
- Total: 9.5
Probable starting pitchers for Cardinals at Reds
2026 stats: 5.0 IP, 0-1, 3.60 ERA, 1.80 WHIP, 3 K, 3 BB
2026 Stats:
Monday’s pitching matchup for Game 2 (August 17): Andre Pallante vs Rhett Lowder
- Cardinals: Andre Pallante
2026 stats: 13.0 IP, 12-6, 3.46 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 92 K, 40 BB
2026 stats: 5.0 IP, 4-8, 5.15 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, 77 K, 40 BB
Who’s Hot? Who’s Not
- Jordan Walker is hitting .313 in August (15/48) with nine RBI
- Alec Burleson is hitting .340 in August (17/50) with six home runs and 19 RBI
- JJ Wetherholt is hitting .170 in August (8/47) with 14 walks and seven strikeouts
- Sal Stewart is hitting .283 in August (15/53) with three home runs and seven RBI
- Elly De La Cruz is hitting .137 in August (7/51) with eight walks, eight RBI, and 14 strikeouts
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Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Cardinals at Reds
- St. Louis is 68-56 ATS, ranking fifth-best
- Cincinnati is 63-60 ATS
- St. Louis is 49-68-7 ATS, ranking last
- Cincinnati is 64-57-2 to the Over, ranking seventh-best
- St. Louis is 33-25 ATS on the road, ranking second-best
- Cincinnati is 29-34 ATS at home, ranking eighth-worst
Expert picks & predictions for tonight’s game between the Cardinals and the Reds
Rotoworld Bet Best Bet
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Monday’s game between the Cardinals and the Reds:
- Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Reds on the Moneyline.
- Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Reds at +1.5.
- Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Under on the Game Total of 9.5
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- Trysta Krick (@Trysta_Krick)
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