MLB Baseball
2025-09-22 - St Louis Cardinals at San Francisco Giants
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : MLB Baseball
Monday 22nd August 2025 - Scheduled 9:45pm
2:45am (British Time)
Preview
It is a rest day for most teams around the Major League before the final push to close the regular season, but this is a huge series beginning for the San Francisco Giants (77-79) and the St Louis Cardinals (76-80).
Time has effectively run out for both teams and you have to believe one more loss will likely end the Wild Card Race.
However, there may be some lingering hope of sneaking into one of the top three Wild Card spots by winning out and so the pressure is on both teams to try and stay alive as long as possible.
The San Francisco Giants will end the season with a series against the very poor Colorado Rockies and they are 3 games out of the Wild Card spots and so this series feels more important for them. For the St Louis Cardinals, there are 4 games to make up and they will be playing National League Central rivals Chicago Cubs on the final weekend, a team that has secured a post-season spot.
The Cardinals did take two of three games from the Milwaukee Brewers this past weekend to keep faint hopes alive and they will hand the ball to Michael McGreevy for the opener of this set of games. The pitcher has a 7-3 record and 4.08 ERA in fifteen appearances this season with fourteen of those coming in starts.
In the last 13 Innings thrown, Michael McGreevy has given up just a single run and that will give him confidence as he goes back in against the San Francisco Giants. Earlier this month, the Giants roughed him up for eight runs in 4 Innings thrown and that is the only decision loss that has been attached to McGreevy since the end of July.
Seven losses in eight games look to have ended the Giants interest in reaching the post-season, but they did take the last in a three game set against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
While the Cardinals go with a second year pitcher, the Giants will turn the ball over to veteran Justin Verlander who has a 3-10 record and 3.75 ERA in twenty-seven starts made in 2025. It is a bounce back year in terms of the personal numbers for Verlander and he is closing the regular season in strong form to show there is still something left in the gas tank.
Justin Verlander gave up six runs in a little over 5 Innings thrown against the San Diego Padres, but has bounced back to put together a 2-0 record and 0.87 ERA in his last five starts. That includes holding the Cardinals scoreless through 6 Innings thrown earlier this month, although Justin Verlander did not factor into the decision.
These teams met in St Louis earlier this month and it was the Cardinals who took two of three games.
Prediction
Both starting pitchers have been showing decent form, albeit Michael McGreevy has to recover from the battering he took from the Giants earlier this month.
Performances since then have been very strong, but the young pitcher has to show he can compartmentalise a bad performance against an opponent, which is challenging.
Justin Verlander continues to give the San Francisco Giants every opportunity to win games and that may be the case again. His team are just about alive in the race for a post-season spot and the veteran may lay the platform for a tight home win.
The Pick :
San Francisco Giants 3-2 St Louis Cardinals
