The St. Louis Cardinals (16-15) play the Chicago Cubs (23-17) in the fourth of a five-game set on Sunday in Wrigley Field at 7:08 p.m. ET. Below, we analyze the Cardinals-Cubs MLB betting odds and lines, with picks and best bets.
Series: St. Louis leads 2-1.
Cardinals at Cubs: Projected starting pitchers
RHP Dakota Hudson vs. LHP Jon Lester
Hudson: 1-2 with a 2.77 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 8.0 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 26 IP over 5 GS.
- Last start: Win, 7-5, with 7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 7 K and 0 BB at the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 31.
- Career vs. Cubs: 0-0 with a 2.89 ERA, 1.71 WHIP, 15 K and 10 BB in 9 1/3 IP over 4 G (2 GS).
- Career at Wrigley: 0-0 with an 8.10 ERA, 2.70 WHIP, 3 K and 0 BB in 3 1/3 IP in 2 G (1 GS).
Lester: 2-1 with a 5.11 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 6.1 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 37 IP over 7 GS.
- Last start: No-decision with 5 1/3 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 3 K and 3 BB in an 8-7 win at the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sept. 1.
- Career vs. Cardinals: 8-6 with a 3.26 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 119 K and 36 BB in 121 1/3 IP over 20 GS.
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Cardinals at Cubs: Key injuries
(Get the latest injury news here.)
Cardinals
- OF Dexter Fowler (illness) out
- SP Kwang-Hyun Kim (illness) out
Also see: BaseballHQ Fantasy Baseball
Cardinals at Cubs: Odds, lines, picks and betting tips
MLB odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full list. Odds last updated Sunday at 1:30 a.m. ET.
Prediction
Cubs 11, Cardinals 6
Moneyline (ML)
The Cardinals (+100) won both games of a 7-inning doubleheader against the Cubs (-110) Saturday to tie the season series, 4-4.
When handicapping pro sports, one of the first things I always look for on a slate are teams that lost their previous game. With the doubleheader loss I naturally lean Cubs initially when looking at this game.
Hudson’s Wrigley Field stats and career WHIP versus the Cubs (listed above) aren’t pretty in the few times he’s faced Chicago. Also, the Cubs hit 36 points better against righties and right-handed pitchers have an ERA one run higher than lefties versus Chicago’s lineup.
TAKE CUBS (-110) after Saturday’s back-to-back losses. New to sports betting? A $110 bet on the Cubs will pay out a profit of $100 if Chicago beats St. Louis straight up.
Run line/Against the spread (ATS)
BetMGM thinks Cardinals-Cubs will be a slugfest as their projected total is 12.5. Why I am mentioning that in this section is because if we like the Cubs on the moneyline and BetMGM is projecting these lineups to hit with runners on then we should SPLASH on CUBS -1.5 (+155).
I’d make it a light wager, so $20 to earn a $31 profit if the Cubs win by two or more runs.
Over/Under (O/U)
I “LEAN” OVER 12.5 (-115) because it’s such a big number and it was set to scare people into taking the Under. The weather report says there will be roughly 19 mph of wind at the hitters’ backs so we should see some dingers this evening. And the Cardinals’ slash line against Lester is good (.304/.364/.470).
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