Sunday Night Baseball: Cardinals vs. Red Sox
Game 2 of the Cardinals vs. Red Sox series was supposed to take place on Saturday, but Mother Nature had other ideas. As a result, Game 2 will take place prior to Sunday Night Baseball, as the ESPN telecast will be Game 2 of Sunday for these two teams. This will be the first doubleheader of the young season, as we’ve had a pretty wet and active weather pattern over the first couple weeks of the season, just not where MLB teams play.
Doubleheaders are always tricky handicaps in advance because you don’t know if somebody will get hurt in Game 1 or how the reliever usage will shake out, but this is the Sunday Night game and the hand we’ve been dealt.
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How to Watch Cardinals vs. Red Sox
Where: ESPN
When: Sunday April 6, 7:10 p.m. ET
Cardinals vs. Red Sox MLB Odds
St. Louis Cardinals +105 // Boston Red Sox -125
Total: 9 (-112/-108)
Cardinals vs. Red Sox Game Preview
We don’t know who is starting Game 2 for the Red Sox, as TBD is currently listed. Miles Mikolas will get the call for the Cardinals. With a bit of an unknown in Sean Newcomb getting the start in Game 1, it could be a very long day for the Boston pitching staff. The most likely candidate is Richard Fitts, who was scheduled to start on Saturday.
In any event, the idea of Mikolas in a good hitter’s park like Fenway is a bit concerning. He allowed two runs on two hits with two walks and three strikeouts over 5.1 innings to start the 2025 season. He’s coming off of back-to-back ugly years. Mikolas had a 4.78 ERA with a 5.44 xERA and a 4.27 FIP in 201.1 innings in 2023 and a 5.35 ERA with a 4.65 xERA and a 4.24 FIP last season. The lower FIP is largely a byproduct of his extremely low walk rate. But, some of that is offset by his inability to miss bats.
Mikolas was an equal opportunity pitcher, as both lefties and righties swung it well against him. Lefties had a .281/.313/.478 slash and righties had a .287/.310/.490 slash. Surprisingly, Mikolas was worse at home, as Busch Stadium usually tilts in favor of pitchers. He had a 6.16 ERA there compared to a 4.63 ERA on the road. But, Fenway Park is not a traditional road venue by any means, as it plays as the best offensive ballpark in the AL.
I’ll write up Fitts here, since it’s likely that he will take the mound and throw the first pitch in this one. Fitts made four September starts last year and posted a 1.74 ERA with a 3.31 FIP in his 20.2 innings of work. He only had nine strikeouts against even walks, but didn’t allow a home run and allowed just one Barrel, holding the opposition to a 33.3% Hard Hit%.
In his lone 2025 start so far, he allowed two Barrels, giving up three runs on six hits, including a couple of homers, with four strikeouts and zero walks against the Rangers. He flashed more strikeout upside in Spring Training and K% is usually a pretty sticky stat for the regular season, even with minor leaguers in ST lineups. He had 14 K in 14.2 innings. He had 111 in 116.2 innings in Triple-A last season, so there’s room for improvement.
With no concrete starter for the Red Sox, I can’t really give out a pick on the side or total and there aren’t any prop lines listed at most sportsbooks. Mikolas did give up 194 hits in 171.2 innings last season and 226 hits in 201.1 innings the season prior. I’m guessing his Hits Allowed prop will be either 4.5 with heavy Over juice or 5.5 with manageable juice. I’d consider the Over there.
Cardinals vs. Red Sox Player Props
Again, with no player props posted, I can’t really advocate anything specific. However, I can tell you about some guys that should theoretically match up well against Mikolas.
Jarren Duran was the Red Sox best hitter against sinkers last season with a Pitch Value of 7.4. Rafael Devers was tops against sliders at 6.4. In his first start against the Rangers, Mikolas threw 33.8% sinkers with a notable velo drop of 1.2 mph and 32.5% sliders/sweepers. Mikolas traded four-seam fastballs for sinkers against Texas and I could see a similar thing here given Fenway Park’s detrimental dimensions.
If Fitts does get the start, Brendan Donovan was St. Louis’s best hitter against sliders last season with a Pitch Value of 4.7. Fitts threw over 56% sliders/sweepers in his first start. He also worked up in the zone a lot with his fastball. Lars Nootbaar had a .362 BA with a .637 SLG on fastballs in the upper third of the zone last season. Alec Burleson was also good in that split with a .313 BA and a .525 SLG.
