Nationals vs. Cardinals Prediction, Odds & Best Bets: The James Wood Show Rolls On

The Washington Nationals may stink, but James Wood certainly does not. He's established himself as an NL MVP candidate in just his second year in the majors.

Andrew Brennan

Last Updated: July 10, 2025 1:49 PM EDT • 4 minute read

Nationals vs. Cardinals Prediction, Odds & Best Bets: Thursday, July 10 — Pictured: Washington Nationals outfielder James Wood headlines our Nationals vs. Cardinals prediction after homering in last night's game. Photo by Brad Mills via Imagn Images.

Washington remains one of the most pitiful ballclubs in the National League, but our Nationals vs. Cardinals prediction is focused on the road team's superstar outfielder who continues to perform nonetheless.

James Wood headlines our Nationals vs. Cardinals best bets after smashing a home run last night, and he'll look to repeat that effort when this one goes down at 7:45 p.m. ET from Busch Stadium. The Cardinals serve as relatively significant betting favorites despite sending human BP machine Miles Mikolas to the hill.

Can the Nats pull off the upset with another significant performance from Wood? Or will his efforts be in vain?

Nationals vs. Cardinals prediction: Cardinals to win (-139 via BetMGM) ⭐⭐⭐
Best Nationals vs. Cardinals player props: James Wood Over 1.5 total bases (+115 via bet365) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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✅ Nationals vs. Cardinals prediction: Cardinals ML (-139 via BetMGM)

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My Nationals vs Cardinals prediction is more in line with the result of Game 1 (4-2 win for St. Louis) of this series rather than last night's contest (8-2 win for Washington).

I don't even think the Cardinals are that good, but you have to acknowledge they're significantly more well-rounded than the Nats.

Washington boasts two players who have accrued more than 1.0 fWAR this season, and that's Wood and CJ Abrams. Meanwhile, the Cardinals have eight, seven of whom are active.

Sure, no single player is as good as Wood, or even Abrams, for that matter. But a group featuring Brendan Donovan, Masyn Winn, Victor Scott II, and Nolan Arenado plays very strong defense and manufactures runs. I expect that to be enough to get the Cardinals the win tonight.

💰 Best Nationals vs. Cardinals player props

✅ Best Nationals vs. Cardinals player prop: James Wood Over 1.5 total bases (+115 via bet365)

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At this point, you know exactly who's featured in my best Nationals vs. Cardinals player props.

It may not be enough to get the Nationals the victory, but I expect Wood to produce another big game tonight.

The outfielder looked very solid in his rookie campaign, but he's taken a massive leap in Year 2. He's on track for roughly 35 homers and 20 steals, and Wood ranks in the 97th percentile or better in average exit velocity, barrel rate, and hard-hit rate. His home run was clocked at an absurd 115.9 mph last night, and he recorded a very loud 113.6-mph out earlier in the game.

For whatever reason, our best sports betting sites just refuse to make the proper adjustments on Wood's hitting props, so we'll continue to take advantage.

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Written by:
Andrew Brennan

Andrew Brennan is a publishing editor for Sportsbook Review. He also heads the website’s MLB coverage, from the various futures markets to daily picks. Andrew believes a math-based approach is the best way to enjoy long-term success in sports betting, and he’s spent the better part of the last year fine-tuning his own process for MLB, NBA, and NFL picks. Andrew uses eight different sportsbooks to find the best odds available and various projection models to gather as much information as he can. His most used sportsbooks are bet365, FanDuel, and theScore Bet. When it comes to daily projection models, he regularly references NumberFire across all sports, as it’s one of the best free tools available. In terms of which daily markets Andrew attacks, he almost exclusively bets on pitcher strikeouts for baseball. When the winter rolls around, you’ll see him providing more variety when it comes to the NBA (points, assists, rebounds) and NFL (almost any offensive-based player prop). He used these tools to go +150 units in 2023. Andrew is also a passionate fantasy sports player. He’s played fantasy football, fantasy Premier League, and fantasy baseball for the last decade. He graduated from Durham College with his diploma in journalism after earning his degree in law from Carleton University. He’s worked in sports media since early 2017, first contributing at FanSided before moving to theScore. He joined SBR in 2022.