Game Information
St. Louis Cardinals (78-81) at Chicago Cubs (89-70)
Time: 1:20pm CT Friday
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network
Probable pitchers: Miles Mikolas (8-10, 4.76 ERA) vs Colin Rea (10-7, 4.10 ERA)
DraftKings Odds
Moneyline: Cubs -181, Cardinals +147
Total: 9 (over -103, under -118)
Cards Head To Wrigley To Close Season
The St. Louis Cardinals will play out the string at Wrigley Field this weekend starting this afternoon with a matinee against the Chicago Cubs.
The Redbirds were officially eliminated from playoff contention with Wednesday’s loss in San Francisco. They need to win all three games this weekend to avoid a second losing season in the last three years.
Mikolas Makes Final Appearance
Miles Mikolas will make what is almost certainly his final start in a Cardinals uniform today. The right-hander is closing strong with a 2.77 ERA over his last five starts.
However, Mikolas is facing a Cubs team today that has plenty of hitters with lots of success against him in their careers:
Michael Busch - .385 average in 13 AB, 2 HR, 1.231 OPS
Pete Crow-Armstrong - .857 average in 7 AB, 4 HR, 3.571 OPS
Ian Happ - .318 average in 44 AB, .803 OPS
Nico Hoerner - .361 average in 36 AB, .805 OPS
Seiya Suzuki - .280 average in 25 AB, 1 HR
Dansby Swanson - .286 average in 28 AB, 1 HR
Cubs Still Pushing
The Cubs are guaranteed to face the Padres in the opening round of the MLB playoffs starting on Tuesday, but they still have something to play for this weekend. The Cubs’ magic number to clinch home field advantage in that series is 2, meaning they need a combination of 2 Chicago wins or San Diego losses to secure home field.
The Cubs’ starting pitcher for this game is still officially TBD as of the time of this writing, but it’s widely expected to be Colin Rea. The right-hander is coming off arguably his best performance of the season last week in Cincinnati, as he went 7 innings while allowing just 1 run on 4 hits with no walks and 11 strikeouts.
My Pick
Let’s have a little fun and bet the over on a Friday afternoon at Wrigley.
Mikolas has been brutal on the road this season with a 6.33 ERA, including a disastrous outing at Wrigley on the 4th of July where he got hammered for 6 home runs.
And while Rea is on a good run right now, he’s a 4’s ERA pitcher that is nothing special.
It’s going to be a beautiful afternoon with a slight breeze blowing out, so I do expect to see some fireworks this afternoon. Also it's been a good week for overs at Wrigley with all three games against the Mets going well over the total.
Pick: Over 9 at -103 on DraftKings (bet to -110)
Eric Sontag hosts Domesticated Gamblers every Wednesday night on the STL Sports Central YouTube channel. Follow him on X @GamblingDads, and click here for his daily picks on all of our St. Louis area sports teams. Picks = betting the game - minus odds betting to win 1 unit, plus odds risking 1 unit. Leans = no strong opinion, not betting the game. Disclaimer