St. Louis Cardinals vs Cincinnati Reds Picks and Prediction for Friday May 22 2026

By: Eddie Kline Published 05/22/2026, 01:20 AM ET

Cardinals Preview

NL Central Division rivals will square off on Friday night, when the St. Louis Cardinals invade Great American Ball Park to take on the Cincinnati Reds. Be ready for the baseball season with all of our MLB predictions. The Cardinals (28-21) have won 15 of their first 23 road games and are surprisingly just two games out of first place. On Thursday, St. Louis DH Ivan Herrera homered and scored twice during a 6-2 home loss versus Pittsburgh.

Twenty-eight year old righty Kyle Leahy (5-3 3.94 ERA) will head to the hill for the Cardinals in this contest. Last time out, Leahy (6 IP) allowed five hits and one run during a 4-2 home victory versus Kansas City.

Reds Preview

The Cincinnati Reds have split their previous ten games and are 4.5 games off the pace in the tightly contested division race. On Wednesday, Sal Stewart went 4-for-5 with a home run and scored three times to spark Cincinnati to a 9-4 road triumph against Philadelphia. SP Andrew Abbott (4-2) allowed one run across five plus frames to earn the win for the Reds, who improved to 26-24 overall.

Thirty year old right-hander Chris Paddack (0-5 7.07 ERA) will make his second start for the Reds. Paddack, who was acquired in a trade with Miami, stands for some positive regression. Through 35 plus innings, Paddack has struck out 30 batters and sports a subpar 1.63 WHIP.

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Cardinals vs Reds Pick

Cincinnati 3B Eugenio Suarez (oblique) began a rehab assignment on Wednesday and will return to the lineup next week. Through 49 games, St. Louis ranks 12th in OPS and 17th in runs scored. For the season, Cincinnati ranks 14th in OPS and 11th in runs scored. Take the Reds to win at home. Final Score Prediction, Cincinnati Reds win 6-3.

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