Toronto Blue Jays vs. St. Louis Cardinals series June 9-11 predictions: A battle of two similar teams

Despite dropping the series finale against the Minnesota Twins on Sunday, the Toronto Blue Jays have captured four consecutive series victories dating back to May 26. Toronto will be looking to make it five in a row when they head into St. Louis for a three-game set against the Cardinals starting on Monday. The Blue Jays enter the series with a 35-30 record and sit 4 1/2 games behind for the AL East division lead while occupying a playoff wild card spot. The Cardinals sport a 36-29 record, and trail the NL Central leaders by four games and find themselves just one game out of a playoff spot.

This should be a close matchup, as both teams have put up similar looking stats across various statistical categories. With that in mind, let's take a look at who should come out on top?

Toronto Blue Jays vs. St. Louis Cardinals series June 9-11 predictions: A battle of two similar teams

Offense

From an offensive standpoint, the Jays currently rank ninth in league in batting average (.252), 11th in OPS (.719), 19th in home runs (65), 15th in RBIs (266) and tied for 23rd in stolen bases (37). The Cardinals mirror those offensive numbers closely, placing fourth in average (.258), ninth in OPS (.724), 24th in home runs (58), ninth in RBIs (286), and tied for 23rd along with the Jays in steals (37).

The Blue Jays have been led by a wave of young talent and unsung heroes in Addison Barger, Ernie Clement, Nathan Lukes, and Myles Straw to go along with the stars Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and Bo Bichette. Whereas the Cardinals have had their very own promising group as well in Masyn Winn, Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, Ivan Herrera and Alec Burleson to complement their savvy veterans Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras.

Pitching 

In terms of pitching, Toronto finds themselves 20th in the MLB for ERA (4.02), 12th in WHIP (1.22) and 14th in opponents batting average. As for the Cardinals, they happen to sit 16th in ERA (3.87), 16th in WHIP (1.26) and 19th in opponents batting average.

However, despite the similarities in the peripheral numbers, one thing that distinguishes Toronto from St. Louis is their boom-or-bust style when it comes to pitching. The Blue Jays have given up the third most home runs in the league with 90, despite having the sixth most strikeouts in the league with 588.

The Cardinals, on the other hand, have used the much more conservative pitching approach and have gotten the job done despite striking out the second least in the MLB with 464. In doing so, they have only given up 51 home runs all year, which is the third least in the league.

Recent play

The Blue Jays have been one of the hottest teams in the league, having won eight of their past 10 games and averaging a whopping 6.7 runs a game during that stretch. More impressively, they have gotten wins against two of the tougher clubs in the MLB in the Twins and Philadelphia Phillies.

As for the Cardinals, following their sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks towards the end of May, they have maintained just a .500 record in their past 12 matches while being outscored 62-47 in the process.

As a result, with Toronto having the slight edge in recent performances, look for the Blue Jays to confidently carry on their momentum as they further solidify their hold on a playoff spot by toppling St. Louis for their fifth consecutive series win.