Its Thursday, August 28 and the Pirates (59-75) are in St. Louis looking to take a third game in their four-game series against the Cardinals (65-69).
Braxton Ashcraft is slated to take the mound for Pittsburgh against Miles Mikolas for St. Louis.
The Bucs were held to three hits last night but squeaked two runs across the plate and that was enough for a 2-1 win. Rookie Bubba Chandler won his first career game allowing just one hit in four scoreless innings. Sonny Gray was the hard-luck loser allowing just the two runs – one earned run – over seven innings.
Lets dive into the matchup and find a sweat or two.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch the first pitch, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game details & how to watch Pirates at Cardinals
- Date: Thursday, August 28, 2025
- Time: 2:15PM EST
- Site: Busch Stadium
- City: St. Louis, MO
- Network/Streaming: SNP, FDSNMW
Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.
Odds for the Pirates at the Cardinals
The latest odds as of Thursday:
- Moneyline: Pirates (+108), Cardinals (-129)
- Spread: Cardinals -1.5
- Total: 8.0 runs
Probable starting pitchers for Pirates at Cardinals
- Pitching matchup for August 28, 2025: Braxton Ashcraft vs. Miles Mikolas
- Pirates: Braxton Ashcraft (4-2, 2.70 ERA)
Last outing: August 22 vs. Colorado – 0.00 ERA, 0 Earned Runs Allowed, 1 Hits Allowed, 1 Walks, and 6 Strikeouts - Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (6-10, 5.17 ERA)
Last outing: August 22 at Tampa Bay – 13.50 ERA, 4 Earned Runs Allowed, 10 Hits Allowed, 1 Walks, and 1 Strikeouts
- Pirates: Braxton Ashcraft (4-2, 2.70 ERA)
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Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Pirates at Cardinals
- In his last 5 starts Miles Mikolas has an ERA of 6.43
- The Pirates have covered in their last 3 games against the Cardinals
- The Pirates are 4-1 in their last 5 games
- Miles Mikolas has struck out just one hitter in three of his last four starts…and just three in the other start
- Bryan Reynolds is 4-13 (.308) in this series
If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
Expert picks & predictions for today’s game between the Pirates and the Cardinals
Rotoworld Best Bet
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Thursday’s game between the Pirates and the Cardinals:
- Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play on the Moneyline.
- Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Pittsburgh Pirates at +1.5.
- Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 8.0.
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