The Cubs Could Use A Series Win Over Cardinals
Cardinals vs Cubs Predictions Believe Both Teams Can Win Two Games
The Chicago Cubs will invite the St. Louis Cardinals to Wrigley Field for a pivotal four-game series over the weekend.
The Cardinals are just 1.5 games out of the NL Wild Card and still have some potential in the NL Central. With two months to play, they are five games away from the Brewers. A series win against another NL Central rival would be crucial.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs have no room for error. They are dead last in the NL Central and 6.5 games out from the final NL Wild Card spot.
The Cubs still have enough time to get back into the race. But they’ll have to win at a high rate starting this weekend.
Oddsmakers believe the Cubs have a slight advantage against the Cardinals in the series’ first game. Chicago is -110 and a slight favorite, while the total is 8, with the Under juiced to -120.
Below are our Cardinals vs Cubs predictions for all four series games.
Cardinals vs Cubs 
Date & Time:
Records: Cardinals (56-52) / Cubs (52-58)
Location: Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL
Streaming: Bally Sports Midwest, Marquee Sports Network, MLBN
Do The Cardinals Have Something With Michael McGreevy?
The St. Louis Cardinals placed Lance Lynn on the IL and needed to find someone to start yesterday’s game. When Michael McGreevy was called up from Triple-A, he thought he was about to get traded at the deadline. Instead, they called to tell him he would start yesterday’s game.
McGreevy, in his MLB debut, struck out three to help the Cardinals earn the win. After that performance, he’ll likely stay with the MLB team.
Are The Cubs Done With Making Moves?
The answer is no.
Many people around the Cubs believe Hector Neris could be on the move if Chicago wants to save some money. Many teams are interested in relief pitching, and Neris, with a solid track record, would get plenty of looks now that the deadline is over.
Cardinals vs Cubs Predictions & Baseball Odds For Game 1:
RL: Cubs -1.5 (+182) ML: Cubs -110, O/U: 8 +100/-120
Cardinals vs Cubs Series Preview
âš¾ Game 1 âš¾
- Thursday, 8:05 pm ET
- Sonny Gray vs. Shota Imanaga
The Cardinals will pitch Sonny Gray in the opening game. Gray has had some odd stat lines over the last month. Over the last 30 days, he has struck out 27.6% of batters and walked only 3.8%. However, he’s still allowed a .237 ISO and wOBA of .391 to his last 105 batters.
That’s ultimately due to a high line drive rate of nearly 33%. He’s still getting high-grounders and low-fly balls. But the hard contact and line drives have destroyed him recently.
That said, he’ll face a Cubs lineup with four batters hitting a wOBA of no better than .270. He’s also facing a Cardinals lineup with five batters striking out at least 21.6% of the time against righties.
Meanwhile, the Cubs will counter with lefty Shota Imanaga. Imanaga has had the same issues as Gray. He’s had high strikeouts and low walks, but he’s also allowed more fly balls than ground balls to righties over the last 30 days.
That’s resulted in an ISO of .228 with a wOBA of .334 over the last month against righties.
The Cardinals’ righties have combined to hit a .300 ISO and wOBA of .414 against lefties over the last month. That includes Tommy Pham, who has torched lefties in the previous 30 days.
Therefore, consider backing the Cardinals in Game 1 of this series at +100. You can add them to your MLB picks and parlays today.
âš¾ Game 2 âš¾
- Friday, 2:20 pm ET
- Erick Fedde vs. Javier Assad
Erick Fedde will make his first start with the Cardinals in Game 2 of this series. This year, he has a 3.11 ERA, but that was in the American League with the White Sox. He’s now in the National League and on a much better team. Ultimately, his stuff should improve.
Fedde has struggled more against lefties over the last month, allowing a .205 ISO and wOBA of .311 to his previous 52 lefties. He’s also allowed more fly balls to lefties than ground balls and has given up 46% of hard contact in the last 30 days.
He hasn’t been perfect, and he must face four lefties who have torched righties over the last month. This isn’t the best MLB matchup for Fedde’s debut.
Javier Assad will start for the Cubs. He’s a righty who has been awful against other righties. Assad has allowed a .440 ISO and wOBA of .562 to his last 31 righties. But he’s randomly been good against lefties more as a right-handed starter.
Still, St. Louis has been getting production from Masyn Winn and Willson Contreras from the right side. Assad won’t dominate St. Louis.
We’d back the Over for this game.
âš¾ Game 3 âš¾
- Saturday, 2:20 pm ET
- Kyle Gibson vs. Jameson Taillon
Kyle Gibson will start Saturday’s game with the Cardinals. Although he has struggled more against lefties over the last month, he has still held his last 115 batters to a .144 ISO with just 25.3% of fly balls allowed.
Meanwhile, the Cubs will counter with Jameson Taillon. Many teams called looking to trade for him, but Chicago kept him in the rotation. Taillon has held his last 116 batters to a .280 wOBA, thanks to his high ground ball rate and low line drive rate.
According to our MLB expert predictions, the Cubs’ lefties should do enough damage to earn a win with Taillon on the mound.
âš¾ Game 4 âš¾
- Sunday, 7:10 pm ET
- Miles Mikolas vs. Justin Steele
Lastly, Miles Mikolas will pitch the finale for the Cardinals. He’s allowed a very high hard contact rate and isn’t getting many swinging strikes. He’s also allowed a .217 ISO and wOBA of .341 to his last 120 batters.
Ultimately, Mikolas doesn’t compare to Justin Steele, who has held his last 130 batters to a .078 ISO and wOBA of .269. Chicago should finish this series off strong over the weekend. That’ll conclude our Cardinals vs Cubs predictions for the series.
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