On Thursday, two of the most storied franchises in base meet up at Wrigley Field with the Chicago Cubs hosting the St. Louis Cardinals in a battle of a pair of sub-.500 teams in need of a win.
St Louis Cardinals vs. Chicago Cubs (-125)
Cubs starting pitcher Marcus Stroman appears to have rebounded from the funk he was in leading to the All-Star Break, allowing at least four total runs and three earned runs in each of his final three starts entering the break.
Stroman for the season has a 2.88 ERA and leads qualifying National League starters with 0.5 home runs per nine innings allowed and is coming off of a start in which he allowed one run in six innings against the Boston Red Sox.
The Cardinals oppose Stroman with Steven Matz, who has split time this season between the starting pitching rotation and the bullpen with the team 4-16 in the 20 games he has pitched in this season.
While Matz has posted a 3.13 ERA since the month of June began, Matz still is carrying a 4.86 ERA and a .287 opponent batting average with the crux of his issues coming as a starter.
Coming out of the bullpen, Matz has a 2.81 ERA with opponents hitting for a .224 batting average off of him this season while his opponents batting average goes to .302 as a starter and his ERA balloons to 5.40.
The Cardinals support Matz with a lineup that has not hit the same on the road as they have at home, averaging nearly 5.4 runs per game at home compared to just over 4.1 runs per game on the road, which is the second-largest hone-to-road run differential in the National League to only the Colorado Rockies.
The Cubs also have the edge in the bullpen, ranked 15th in the league in bullpen ERA while the Cardinals are 25th in this category and entering Wednesday, the Cubs were fifth in the league in bullpen ERA over the course of the past 30 days while the Cardinals were 24th.
With the Cubs offense 10th in the league in both on-base percentage and runs per game, the lineup will give Stroman enough support to get a home win on Thursday.
The Play: Cubs -125
