Ryan Helsley is favored to be named NL's top reliever, but few other Cardinals grab bookies' attention (2024)

The Cardinals have been on an upswing, entering the weekend having won three games in a row and eight of their previous 10 contests. Nonetheless, they were three games under .500 and in third place in the National League Central Division.

But a key cog in their recent run, as well as in victories that had been sporadic before that, has been closer Ryan Helsley.

He had 15 saves, leading the NL, with only one blown save opportunity — and that was in his first outing of the season, so he had converted 15 chances in a row.

That has vaulted him to he favorite’s spot in odds to win the reliever of the year award in the NL at FanDuel (horse track in Collinsville), the only one of the three legal walk-in sportsbooks in the St. Louis area to have prices posted on that race.

As of Friday afternoon that shop had him at +210, which translates into a successful $100 wager reaping a profit of $210. Helsley was just ahead of San Diego’s Robert Suarez (+240) in the odds. Suarez entered Friday’s play with 14 saves and no blown chances, an ERA of 0.40 and a WHIP of 0.67. Those last two statistics are superior to Helsley’s figures of 1.23 and 0.86. Suarez also a better won-loss record, 2-0, compared to Hensley’s 2-2.

‘M-V-P! ... M-V-P!’

With the Cardinals’ offense in hibernation for most of the early part of the season until the recent uptick, it’s no surprise that the team has nobody in the top tier of odds to win the Most Valuable Player honors in the NL.

In fact, FanDuel did not have a price on any Cardinal and Argosy (casino in Alton) listed just one Bird: Paul Goldschmidt was at 150-1.

DraftKings (Casino Queen in East St. Louis) had Nolan Arenado and Goldschmidt at 100-1 with Nolan Gorman, Brendan Donovan and Lars Nootbaar at 200-1.

‘Sigh’ Young?

The Cardinals pitching staff isn’t getting much chatter in the Cy Young honor chase outside of some lukewarm numbers for Sonny Gray.

DraftKings had Gray in a tie for seventh place, at odds of 20-1, with Philadelphia’s Zach Wheeler as the favorite (3.3-1), followed closely by the Cubs’ Shota Imanaga (4-1). The only other Cardinal on DK’s board was Miles Mikolas, at 200-1.

Argosy had Gray at 30-1, with Helsley also in the mix (100-1). It’s price on Mikolas was 250-1.

FanDuel chimed in with Gray at 32-1 and Helsley at 200-1.

Ya win some, ya lose someThe preseason over-under betting figure on the Cardinals was 84½ at all three area shops, meaning customers could wager on whether the team would win more or fewer than that number of regular-season games.

As of Friday afternoon, before they opened a weekend series against the Chicago Cubs, the number had fallen to 79½ at Argosy and DraftKings, with the under the favorite — those wanting to bet that the Cards will fall short of that would be required to risk $125 to try to win $100 at DraftKings, $122 at Argosy.

The big picture

Before the season began, the highest price being offered among the local houses on the Cardinals winning the NL Central title was +190, at DraftKings. On Friday, the odds had zoomed to 6-1 there as well as at FanDuel and to 7-1 at FanDuel.

The most favorable preseason number on the Birds to win the NL pennant was 16-1 (at FanDuel and DraftKings). On Friday, you could get 50-1 at Argosy.

For the longshot crowd, before the first pitch of the season was thrown the highest price on the Cards to win the World Series was 35-1, at DraftKings. The number since has soared, and as usually is the case the discrepancy from house to house underscores the importance of shopping around.

Argosy on Friday had the Redbirds at 75-1, DraftKings was at 90-1 and FanDuel checked in at 110-1. So a successful $10 bet at Argosy would get you a profit of $750, but a risk of the same amount at FanDuel would be worth $350 more. Of course that would require the Cardinals winning the whole thing. Good luck with that.

No McCarron, no problem?

The Battlehawks won their United Football League contest last weekend without their top quarterback, AJ McCarron, who was nursing an ankle injury.

He has recovered enough that he is expected to be in uniform when the XFL Division-leading team plays at last-place Arlington (Texas) at 11 a.m. Saturday. But McCarron is not set to start and might not play at all as Manny Wilkins gets the call after engineering a 26-21 victory over D.C. in the B-Hawks’ previous outing.

The oddsmakers have taken note, as the Battlehawks (6-2) on Friday afternoon were just a small favorite over the Renegades (1-7). The B-Hawkers were a 2½-point choice at Argosy, 3 points at the other two houses.

City struggles

City SC has won just two of its last 11 Major League Soccer contests, with six of them being ties. But City, ninth in the Western Conference, is favored to beat 10th-place Seattle when the teams battle Saturday night at CityPark.

On the three-way line, which includes the option of selecting the match to end in a draw in addition to selecting either side to win, the most favorable price Friday afternoon on City to win was +105. That was being offered at Argosy and FanDuel.

Those three-way line City SC backers are taking a hit, however, this season after having a big run last year. The team’s loss last week put those who have been wagering $100 on the club to win each time in $618 hole, after pulling in a $1,247 profit last year by using the most favorable price available among the area shops.