Pittsburgh Pirates vs St. Louis Cardinals Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 05/19/26

The Cardinals have been one of the most surprising teams in baseball through the first 2 months of the 2026 campaign. St. Louis has been somewhat directionless over the past couple of years, but they now seem to be trending in the right direction. The Cardinals enter this matchup against the Pirates with an overall record of 27-19 and have won 3 of their last 4 contests. Conversely, the Pirates are heading in the wrong direction with losses in 4 of their last 5 games. Offensive consistency continues to be an issue, as Pittsburgh has been held scoreless in back-to-back games.

Scoring runs could continue to be a struggle for the Pirates in this matchup. St. Louis will send left-hander Matthew Liberatore to the mound, and Pittsburgh hasn’t been able to find much success against southpaws so far this season. Specifically, the Pirates rank 24th in baseball with a team OPS of 656 against lefties. The Cardinals tend to win with Liberatore on the mound, as they are 6-3 in his 9 starts so far this season. Given the current trajectory of both of these teams, the Cardinals are the team to back in this NL Central matchup.

Pirates vs Cardinals prediction: Cardinals ML (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable to -115.