Rejoice Cubs fans! The losing streak is finally over! After taking it to Zack Wheeler and the Phillies on Wednesday night, new life has been breathed into a fledgling Chicago Cubs team that now has some major work to do if it’s to get back in the thick of the NL Central race. Though the St. Louis Cardinals were unable to sweep the San Francisco Giants, Mike Shildt’s squad will still invade the “Friendly Confines” more confident after taking two of three from the current NL West leaders. Last it paid the North Side a visit, St. Louis saw the brooms get busted out on them back when the Cubs were playing good ball and sitting atop the division standings. While that’s no longer the case, Chicago has proved to be a better team than the Redbirds by cashing in at online sportsbooks in five of the six played skirmishes. The Cubs have taken four straight from their hated rivals at home dating back to last season, and it will be up to Zach Davies to potentially keep that streak intact provided Chicago takes Friday’s opener behind Kyle Hendricks. That’s something a locked in Kwang Hyun Kim will look to prevent.
First pitch for the division rivalry between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs is scheduled for Saturday, July 10, 2021, at 7:15 p.m. ET from Wrigley Field. The matchup will air live on FOX. Bet on MLB odds and player props at BookMaker.eu every day of the season.
MLB Betting Lines at BookMaker.eu
Odds Analysis
Each team has been boons to MLB bettor’s bankrolls to this point of the season. St. Louis currently sits two games under .500 and $516 in the hole, while Chicago is a game under .500 and down nearly $100 for its wagering supporters. Most of the Cardinals deficit has been accrued on the road where its 20-27 overall and down upwards of $500 overall. The Cubs have been downright awful on the road, but rank out as one of the best home teams in the game in winning 27 of 42 for a near $1K return on investment. Though two of this year’s three meetings at Wrigley Field played to high scorers, the under still clocks in 5-4-1 in the last 10 overall skirmishes. Chicago’s been a great under bet to date with it 48-34-5, but the bullpen was heavily taxed against Philly evidenced by the over cashing in each of the first three games.
Probable Pitchers
Kwang Hyun Kim: Nothing about the lefty’s arsenal jumps off the page when breaking his stuff down. Kim will enter start No. 15 the owner of a 3-5 record and 3.39 ERA. He’s allowed just 61 hits through 66.1 innings which has amounted to just 8.3 hits per nine innings. Nothing about his stuff is fluky evidenced by a 4.00 FIP. While he’s been tough to homer against, the lefty has been walking 3.3 batters per nine innings while only tallying 7.1 strikeouts per nine; the latter output is down to 5.5 over the last 30 days. He’s thrown at the Cubs only once in his career and allowed three hits and 1 ER over 3.2 innings. Chicago is 13-11 and averages 5.2 runs per game against left-handed starters this season.
Zach Davies: Davies has arguably been the Cubs best pitcher dating back to the end of May. His rough start to the season is now a thing of the past after producing quality efforts in half of his last six trips to the starting bump. While he got rocked for 8 ER through six innings against the Miami Marlins of all teams, he only conceded 2 ER in the other two and a total of six hits. Last time out, he took a no-decision against the Phillies after tossing five innings of 2 ER ball but only managed one strikeout. His stuff wasn’t great and he served up a number of rockets that just so happened to find his fielder’s gloves. Davies has however had some success against St. Louis this season in allowing no earned runs and just six hits through 11.2 innings over two starts.
Cardinals vs. Cubs Prediction
The Cubs offense taking it to Wheeler right out of the chute came as quite the surprise on Wednesday night. After putting 10 runs on the board in a losing effort the previous game, the team undoubtedly took to the field determined to put an end to their losing streak. Now that it’s a thing of the past, I’m curious to see if it was just a blip on the radar or something more concrete. I’m of the belief it will be the latter as I’m not sold on this team whatsoever. Javy Baez is dealing with a thumb injury and Kris Bryant was taken out of the win over the Phillies due to a hamstring issue. Should those two potent bats be unavailable come Saturday night, it would give Kim a major advantage over Davies who routinely looks like he can get lit up like a Christmas tree at the drop of a hat every time he takes the mound. Chicago has really regressed against left-handed pitching over the last few weeks, and Kim has been in a groove of late. That’s enough for me to take a flyer on the Redbirds should they offer up any sort of plus-money return on the MLB odds.
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