MLB Sunday Night Baseball: Cardinals vs. Dodgers odds, picks and prediction for 3/31 

Cardinals vs. Dodgers Odds

Sunday, Mar 31, 7:10 p.m. ET, ESPN

Odds via DraftKings. Get up-to-the-minute MLB odds here.

St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals want to erase the terrible memories of the 2023 season, when they finished 71-91, good for dead last in the NL Central. Many people tabbed the Cardinals as the NL Central favorites, but the season started poorly and didn't get better. Manager Oliver Marmol got a vote of confidence from ownership, getting a two-year contract extension just before the season started. We'll see if Marmol makes the the extension worth it, and it starts against the Dodgers.

Steven Matz finished his 2023 season with his best month in years. The veteran lefty allowed one or fewer runs in his last four starts while throwing over six innings in each outing. the following spring training yielded different results — posting an 8.16 ERA in 14.1 innings. Matz got crushed around the yard in each outing, making it hard to decipher whether the strong finish to 2023 was an anomaly or a reality. He'll have his hands full against the Dodgers lineup, but at least Ohtani is worse against left-handers, and James Outman will sit for Chris Taylor.

Marmol must be disappointed and perplexed by the lack of hitting in the first series this year. Paul Goldschmidt is the only Cardinals hitters with an OPS over .700 so far. The 36-year-old former MVP drilled a home run in game two of the series and has drawn a couple of walks. The Cardinals will need help from Nolan Arenado, Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker in the series' final game. Particularly, Arenado has to get it going because the dynamic duo of Arenado and Goldschmidt isn't a duo if only one of the two is hitting.

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers came into the year as the clear World Series favorites after adding Shohei Ohtani to form the scariest lineup trio in the sport alongside Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Betts is stealing the headlines through the first week, hitting an MLB-best three home runs thus far with an OPS over 1.900.

The former AL MVP putting up MVP numbers is no surprise, as he batted .307 with 39 homers and 109 RBI last season. He still doesn't quite get the amount of love he deserves in my mind. Betts is already hitting, so what happens when Freeman and Ohtani start hitting? It hasn't happened yet, but Ohtani and Freeman both finished 2023 with an OPS over 1.000.

Now we reach the possible downfall of this potentially historically elite Dodgers team: starting pitching. With Clayton Kershaw on the shelf for a couple of months, Dave Roberts will call on younger arms, like Gavin Stone, to fill big innings. Stone debuted in 2023, pitching in nine games to a ghastly 9.00 ERA with just 22 strikeouts in 31 innings. The 25-year-old righty isn't a hard thrower and throws his change-up (34%) the most out of any of his six pitches. Stone posted a sub-four ERA in the spring, so perhaps the struggles last year are in the rearview mirror.

Either way, Stone probably won't produce a ton of length even if he's throwing well. It's the first start of the year for a younger arm, so expect a lot of Dodgers bullpen arms. Roberts can rely on a foursome of arms: Daniel Hudson, Ryan Braiser, Joe Kelly and closer Evan Phillips. If the Dodgers hold a close lead into the latter innings, expect to see those names shut the door.

Cardinals vs. Dodgers

Betting Pick & Prediction

The Dodgers won't win every game this year, so you'll find good prices betting against them at some point. But this isn't a spot I'm looking to fade the dangerous Dodgers in, as I'll gladly take the plus money on the -1.5 run line.

I don't buy into Matz's late-season resurgence after posting awful results the previous two seasons to pair with an even worse spring in 2024. I expect the Dodgers' lineup to jump all over Matz en route to a dominant win.

Pick: Dodgers -1.5 (+110)