Old Rivals Meet Again: The St. Louis Cardinals vs Chicago Cubs

The St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs are rivals that have been playing each other for a long time, but on June 13, 2021 they will meet again at Wrigley Field at 7:08 PM EST. The rivalry between the Cardinals and Cubs has been a long one. There are over 2,000 games played by the two teams against each other in historyTonight on Sunday Night Baseball, the Cardinals and Cubs will compete against each other.

St. Louis Cardinals vs Chicago Cubs Betting Odds & Line Movement

The St Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs are gearing up for their second matchup in this three game series. This time, the Cardinals will be looking to avoid a sweep after losing on Thursday night. The Cubs enter as -140 favorites at the best online sportsbooks with a total of 9.5 runs expected as Carlos Martinez faces Kyle Davies once again for the Cards.

Notes On The St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals lost to the Chicago Cubs on Saturday and dropped down to 32-32. The Cardinals’ bats were silenced by Kyle Hendricks, while John Gant was not great in his return from injury. The Cardinals have been doing well in their division but they are currently struggling to keep pace with the Brewers and the Pirates after an injury to one of their starting pitchers caused them some trouble.

The Cardinals are not scoring many runs this season. They are 20th in wOBA and 93rd in wRC+. But they have gotten good contributions from some players like Nolan Arenado, Tyler O’Neill, Yadier Molina, and Dylan Carlson. The offense has had trouble with other players who are not doing well. Paul Goldschmidt is hovering just above league average, as are Paul DeJong and Harrison Bader. Tommy Edman has yet to get off the ground in his first MLB season.

Perennial contenders such as the Cardinals are used to employing a range of tactics to create more offense. Lately, teams have relied on fielding platoons and other part-time players in an effort to keep up with last year’s dominant offenses. It may not be long before these approaches result in a level off for offensive production

.A problem is that Carlos Martinez has been struggling in the rotation. On the season he has a 6.21 ERA and 4.24 FIP. He has not allowed many home runs, but he has given up a lot of hard contact. His K% is now 15%. There is talk that he might be injured or otherwise compromised.

Martinez’ LOB% is 54.3%. He has not been able to pitch his way out of jams. He induces a lot of ground balls but has a 44.6% Hard Hit%. He allowed 4 home runs in 58 innings this year and 2-out hits have been a problem for him this season.

Notes On The Chicago Cubs

Kyle Davies is finally starting to figure it out. He threw six innings without giving up any runs in his last game against the Padres. That was a change from his start against the Giants, but before then, he had been doing very well.Drew is 4-4 with a 3.55 ERA and a 3.59 FIP in his 13 starts this season. He had extremely high ground ball rates (+12) to go along with minimal home runs (1).

Unlike Martinez, Davies is not known for his low walk rate and had a 72.8% LOB%. Both pitchers have a similar strikeout rate, but Davies allowed the ball in play to be more often hit hard.Davies has been pitching well since May 1, but his strikeout to walk ratio (K/BB) is still too low.

The Chicago Cubs offense is grading slightly better than league average with a 101 wRC+. The Cubs have been hitting for more power than recent seasons, and success at home has played a big role in the improvement.While the Cubs are 11th in wOBA overall, they rank 7th at home and have a 114 wRC+ in that split. Chicago’s walk rate is also much higher at home and the ballpark has been rocking now that Wrigley Field is back to full capacity.

Patrick Wisdom’s eight homers in 18 games has provided a huge lift to the St. Louis Cardinals’ lineup, but some of their other players are also having strong seasons, most notably Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo.

Right now, you could make a strong case that the Cubs look like the best team in the NL Central. The Cardinals will next get to take on Chicago at home on June 13, 2021. Javier Baez has boosted his wRC+ this past week and sits at 99 – unbelievable considering he was batting just under .200 mere weeks ago.

The bullpen has some worries. One of the things is that this team’s LOB% is very high. This means that the bullpen might be better than it should be. But there are other teams in this league with many problems and the Cubs seem to have fewer problems than most.

St. Louis Cardinals vs Chicago Cubs Betting Pick & Prediction:Chicago Cubs

The Cardinals are having a lackluster season. In the last 12 games, they’ve only won twice whereas against opposing pitchers, 2017’s Cy Young Zach Davies has been pitching well over his loss-defying career numbers. Carlos Martinez is having great seasons in the past but, thus far, he’s been below expectations at 3-6 with six losses. The Cubs are chalky to win this game. You can follow it on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.