New York Mets (12-5, first in the NL East) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (9-5, first in the NL Central)
St. Louis; Monday, 7:45 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Mets: Max Scherzer (3-0, 2.50 ERA, .89 WHIP, 23 strikeouts); Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (1-0, 1.76 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 13 strikeouts)
LINE: Mets -147, Cardinals +125; over/under is 7 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals host the New York Mets on Monday to begin a three-game series.
St. Louis has a 3-1 record at home and a 9-5 record overall. The Cardinals are 7-0 in games when they have more hits than their opponents.
New York has gone 5-2 at home and 12-5 overall. Mets hitters have a collective .393 slugging percentage to rank sixth in the NL.
Monday's game is the first meeting between these teams this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Nolan Arenado has a .364 batting average to lead the Cardinals, and has five doubles and five home runs. Paul Goldschmidt is 10-for-42 with five RBI over the last 10 games.
Francisco Lindor has four doubles and four home runs for the Mets. Starling Marte is 10-for-37 with a double, two home runs and eight RBI over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 6-4, .227 batting average, 2.41 ERA, outscored opponents by 10 runs
Mets: 7-3, .257 batting average, 2.97 ERA, outscored opponents by 17 runs
INJURIES: Cardinals: Drew VerHagen: 10-Day IL (hip), Jack Flaherty: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Alex Reyes: 60-Day IL (shoulder)
Mets: Taijuan Walker: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Jacob deGrom: 10-Day IL (shoulder), John Curtiss: 60-Day IL (elbow), Joey Lucchesi: 60-Day IL (elbow)
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