Cubs vs Cardinals Betting Prediction

The Cubs vs Cardinals matchup cannot be more midwest.

This weekend we will see the 32-30 St. Louis Cardinals visiting Wrigley Field to take on the 35-27 Chicago Cubs in a 3 game weekend battle. This will be the second series of the season for these two NL Central foes.

The Cubs are winners of 6 of their last 10 while the Cardinals have seen their play dip lately losing 8 of their last 10.  However, the Cardinals are coming off an 8-2 win over Cleveland. The Cubs are coming off a 3-1 win over San Diego.

Prior to losing six straight before their win vs Cleveland, the Cardinals held the NL Central division lead. The Cubs are now the leaders with a three-game advantage over the falling Cardinals.

With a series sweep, the Cardinals can put themselves write back on top of the division this weekend.

These teams always seem to have fun and tight battles, so I am expecting more of the same in this series. Two of their previous three matchups this season were decided by one run. And over the last two years, they have split the last ten games.

Key Factors and Players for Friday’s Game 1

Johan Oveido, who is 0-2 with a 5.25 ERA, will get the start for the Cardinals. The Cubs will send Kyle Hendricks to the plate who is 7-4 on the year with a 4.59 ERA.

In his last start, Oviedo gave up two runs off of three hits in four innings. The Cardinals would go on to suffer a 5-2 loss at the hands of Cincinnati. They will be expecting more from him in this game if they want to win.

Hendricks also game up 3 runs in his last start over 6.1 innings of work in a 4-3 win over the San Francisco Giants. Hendricks will look to continue his winning ways while hopefully keeping more runs off the board.

Both teams come into this one batting right below the middle of the pack with the Cubs scoring about 4.56 runs per game while averaging .234 from the plate. St. Louis is averaging 4.24 runs per game. Their .232 batting average is 22nd in the league.

Kris Bryant is back to putting up All-Star numbers for the Cubs as he leads the team with a .307 batting average with 13 home runs and 38 RBIs. Javier Baez has been performing on pace with 14 home runs and 39 RBIs which both lead the Cubs.

Nolan Arenado will be getting his second taste of this series as a member of the Cardinals and he leads the team with a .282 batting average and 40 RBI. Tyler O’Neill leads the team with 15 home runs.

Cubs vs Cardinals Prediction

Despite their 8-2 win on Thursday, I still see the Cardinals as a team that is struggling to get runs across the plate recently, and in this month of June especially. They have only averaged about 3.8 runs over their last 9 games. For the Cubs, they have averaged around their season average with 4.22 runs per game over their last 9.

I see the Cubs’ success continuing in this one with the hot bats of Bryant, Baez, Rizzo, Contreras, and Pederson leading the way. Oviedo has not shown great stuff this season, and I expect the Cubs to score a few early on him.

Wind will not play a factor in this one from the Windy City, as wind gust will only be around 1 mph tomorrow during this 2:20 PM EST affair. Runs will be hard to come by with the wind not being a factor to carry out balls past the famous ivy-covered outfield wall at Wrigley.

I’m comfortable with taking the under in this matchup at …. The Cubs and Cardinals have failed to cover the over in their last 2 matchups, and if the Cubs hadn’t poured on 8 runs in the 8th inning of their first matchup this season, the same could be said for that game.

Cubs vs Cardinals Final Picks: Cubs ML (-160) Under 7.5 (-110). Consensus Odds.

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