St. Louis Cardinals vs Kansas City Royals Prediction, 5/16/2025 MLB Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: St. Louis Cardinals vs Kansas City Royals

Date: Friday, May 16, 2025

Location: Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, MO

TV: FanDuel Sports Network Kansas City

Odds/Point Spread: St. Louis (+120) Kansas City (-144)

Kauffman Stadium is the location where the Kansas City Royals (25-20) will attempt to beat the St. Louis Cardinals (24-20) on Friday. The moneyline on this game has the Cardinals at +120 while the Royals are sitting at -144. The total comes in at 8.5. The starting pitchers are Andre Pallante and Cole Ragans.

The Cardinals have accrued 85 two-baggers as a team and have knocked 43 baseballs out of the stadium. St. Louis is slugging .406 and have been called out on strikes 340 times, while drawing a walk on 159 occasions. As a unit, the St. Louis Cardinals are putting up 4.8 runs per outing, which puts them at 7th in the league. They have accumulated 200 runs batted in and 394 hits on the year, and their team batting average is .262. They have tallied 212 runs scored while having a team on-base percentage of .338.

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Their K/BB ratio is 2.36 and their pitching staff holds a collective WHIP of 1.24. Cardinals pitchers have relinquished 34 home runs and also 181 total runs (13th in MLB). St. Louis has given up 350 base hits (8.1 per 9 innings) and 167 earned runs. The Cardinals are sitting with a team ERA of 3.85 so far this year (12th in MLB), and the staff has rung up 314 hitters. Their pitching staff has walked 133 opposing hitters and their FIP sits at 3.74 as a team on the season.

The Cardinals relief pitchers have recorded a save rate of 61.1% and stepped onto the hill in 51 save situations. The relief pitchers have inherited 58 base runners on the season with 36.2% of those players ended up crossing the plate. Cardinals relief pitchers have entered the game with opponents on base 44 times and also have had 58 appearances in high leverage situations. The Cardinals have sent 134 relievers to the mound over the course of the season. The relief pitchers have a total of 32 holds this year (6th in baseball). They have tallied 11 saves for the year and have missed out on 7 of 18 chances to save the game.

The St. Louis Cardinals are sitting with 1,172 putouts so far this season, in addition to 439 assists and 16 errors. Their fielding percentage is at .990 which puts them in 3rd in baseball, and have a total of 31 double plays. The Cardinals have converted 71.4% of balls in play into outs in their 3,516 innings on the field, ranking them 8th in professional baseball.

Pallante (21-16 career mark) has a FIP of 3.80 while he has faced 1,453 hitters during his time in the majors. He has surrendered 343 hits (9.1 hits per 9 innings) and has 134 walks. His earned run average is 3.86 (146 ER's allowed) and he has a WHIP of 1.402. Pallante has taken the mound for 340 innings and has tallied 238 punch outs during his career.

The Kansas City Royals have accumulated an on-base percentage of .300 and a team batting average of .242 this year. They have struck out on 316 occasions (28th in the league) and have tallied 363 hits. Kansas City has accounted for 29 home runs on the season as well as 153 RBIs. The Royals hold a team SLG% of .360 and they earn 3.42 runs per game (28th in the league). They have notched 75 doubles, while taking a walk 117 times as well as putting up 154 runs.

The Royals are sitting with a team WHIP of 1.179 with a FIP of 3.59 as a unit so far this season. They have earned a strikeout to walk ratio of 8.20 (367 strikeouts vs 126 bases on balls). They are sitting at 16th in baseball as a staff in total hits given up with 347. They have given up 40 dingers and they surrender 3.32 runs per 9 innings (2nd in the league). The Kansas City pitching staff have given up 148 runs so far this year while holding a team ERA of 3.03 (135 earned runs conceded).

Sitting with 43 save situations, the Royals have earned 25 holds in addition to 4 blown saves. Kansas City has had relievers take the mound in 18 save chances and they have walked away with 14 saves. Their relievers have come in 46 times in high leverage situations in addition to 37 occasions with base runners. Kansas City relievers have an inherited score rate of 29.8% out of 47 inherited base runners. They are ranked 3rd in baseball holding a save percentage of 77.8%, and they have sent 136 relief pitchers onto the diamond on the year.

The Kansas City Royals have gotten 40 double plays and have accounted for a fielding rate of .990 (2nd in MLB). The Royals have accrued 413 assists, 16 errors and have 1,204 putouts over the course of the season. In 3,612 innings on the field, the Royals are sitting with a efficiency on defense of 71.2% (10th in baseball).

So far in his career, Ragans has given up 296 base knocks while he has earned 428 punch outs in 362 innings. Ragans (20-19 career win-loss mark) has a 3.55 earned run average while giving up 7.4 hits per nine innings. He has given up a total of 143 ER's while holding a WHIP of 1.195 and being the owner of a FIP of 3.5. He has a strikeout to walk ratio of 3.12 and he has faced 1,499 opposing hitters in his MLB career.

Who will win tonight's MLB game against the spread or moneyline?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Kansas City (-144)

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