St. Louis Cardinals vs Cincinnati Reds Game 2 Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 05/23/26

The St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds are playing a doubleheader on Saturday after rain postponed Friday’s series opener. The second game of the split bill will be on FOX for part of the country. The tricky thing about doubleheaders is that so much of how we bet Game 2 has to do with how Game 1 goes, especially when it comes to bullpen usage. If teams expend their best arms in the first game, the second game tends to go over the run total. If only one team uses the high leverage arms, then we probably want to go the other way. But we are looking at this game without knowing those factors, so be flexible. As of now, I’ll go with the Cardinals to win.

However the first game goes, I do like Kyle Leahy for the Cardinals. He struggled some in the early part of the season, but he has logged 3 straight starts allowing 1 run or less, and he seems to have settled into a nice groove. The Reds will go with Chase Petty. He is a fireballer who averages around 97 with the fastball, but there might not be a lot else there. He has been back and forth from the minors, and he made one start early in May against the Cubs. It was okay, but seeing only 1 strikeout from a power arm is a bit concerning. I’ll take my chances with Leahy, but again, I would wait until after the first game and reevaluate.

Cardinals vs Reds Prediction: Cardinals ML (-110) available at the time of publishing. Playable to -120.

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