The St. Louis Cardinals take on the Chicago Cubs. Check out our MLB odds series for our Cardinals Cubs prediction and pick.
Jordan Montgomery goes to the hill for the Cardinals, while Drew Smyly takes the bump for the Cubs.
Jordan Montgomery has been tremendous since coming over to St. Louis from the New York Yankees. Montgomery has given the Redbirds exactly what they were hoping for and then some. Montgomery has allowed one run in 16 2/3 innings in his first three starts as a Cardinal. That is spectacular. What adds to the quality of Montgomery’s work is that he has beaten good teams, the Yankees and Brewers, along the way. St. Louis needed starting pitching at the trade deadline, and while the Jose Quintana acquisition was not universally seen as a great addition — though it has turned out to be very good thus far — it was widely felt that the Cardinals got the better end of the trade with the Yankees involving Montgomery and Harrison Bader. The conventional wisdom was 100-percent right on that count.
Drew Smyly is as hot as Montgomery is. If Montgomery’s last three starts are impressive, look at Smyly’s last six appearances. In only one of the six starts has Smyly given up more than two earned runs. In those last six starts, Smyly has pitched 31 1/3 innings and allowed only nine runs, but five of them were in one start. In the other five starts, the pitching line is spectacular: 27 1/3 innings, four earned runs, one home run, four walks, 25 strikeouts. Smyly’s ERA was 4.43 on July 16. He has knocked it down to 3.67 with this run of great pitching.
Courtesy of FanDuelhere are the Cardinals-Cubs MLB odds.
MLB Odds: Cardinals-Cubs Odds
St. Louis Cardinals: -1.5 (-104)
Chicago Cubs: +1.5 (-115)
Over: 8.5 (-105)
Under: 8.5 (-115)
Why The Cardinals Could Cover the Spread
Jordan Montgomery is pitching at an elite level. He deserves complete trust from the Cardinals and from people who study baseball. The Cubs have played the Cardinals vigorously this season, as one would expect of a rivalry matchup, but Montgomery’s pitching is so dependable that it is hard to expect the Cubs to break through against him. Also keep in mind how well the Cardinals are playing in general. They are getting timely hits from a lot of different sources. They are getting big outs from the back end of their bullpen. Everything is clicking for this team, and the Cubs do not have the depth in the batting order which is needed to give St. Louis problems.
Why The Cubs Could Cover the Spread
After the weekend, the Cubs have to be encouraged about where they are headed. They got quality starting pitching throughout the weekend against the Brewers, winning two of three games in the series. The Cubs stood toe to toe with a good team and prevailed a majority of the time. Chicago’s performance and its pitching results since the All-Star break have been excellent. The Cubs and Smyly can contain the Cardinals’ bats and dig out a low-scoring win, or even just a one-run loss, which would cover on the run line.
Final Cardinals-Cubs Prediction & Pick
If you insist on making a pick, go with the under. Two in-form pitchers going at it would lead to an under pick. However, with the Cardinals flying from Phoenix to Chicago and the Cubs coming off a series against the Brewers in which they did not score many runs in regulation (they scored three in extra innings on Saturday), this is best viewed as a stay-away game.
Final Cardinals-Cubs Prediction & Pick: Under 8
