The Route 66 Rivalry will be front and center on this week’s installment of Sunday Night Baseball as the St. Louis Cardinals wrap up a weekend series with the Chicago Cubs. This is a rivalry that dates all the way back to 1885.
The teams have played 2,526 times going into the weekend, with the Cubs holding a slight edge, 1,278-1,228, with 20 ties.
As of this writing, the Cardinals sit at 56-52, five games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central. The Cubs are in dead last in the NL Central at 52-58, 10 games behind the Brewers.
If you plan to include their series finale in your weekend MLB betting, read on to get our prediction.
Sunday Night Baseball: St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs Preview | MLB Odds
When: Sunday, August 4, 2024, 7:00 pm ET
Where: Wrigley Field, Chicago
TV: ESPN
Radio: ESPN Radio
Live Stream: ESPN+
Pitching Matchup: Miles Mikolas (8-8, 4.99 ERA) (STL) vs Justin Steele (2-5, 3.38 ERA) (CHI)
Why should you bet on the Cardinals?
Miles Mikolas put up four solid starts in five outings in the month of July – but the only sloppy one came at home against these same Cubs.
On July 14, Chicago touched him up for six runs on eight hits, including four home runs.
In his other four July starts, though, he threw six or more innings each time and only allowed a combined seven runs on seven hits, with just one home run permitted.
He’s not a big strikeout pitcher (he hasn’t struck out more than four batters in any outing since June 16), so he relies on guile and hitting the corners.
The Cardinals did make use of the trade deadline, jettisoning Tommy Edman after he missed the first half of the season due to injury.
They added Erick Fedde for just $7.5 million for the rest of the season, and they also added Tommy Pham and Shawn Armstrong.
So the talent is in place for at least a wild-card run. Will the talent perform on the field?
^Why should you put your money on the Cubs?
Justin Steele’s numbers have been taking on water since July 11, when his ERA was just 2.71.
Since then, he has given up five runs on nine hits over 4 ⅔ innings against the Diamondbacks and given up five runs on six hits over five innings against the Reds.
In between, he threw 5 ⅓ impressive innings against the Brewers, holding them to a pair of runs on six hits.
However, he hasn’t been getting run support; the Cubs have scored just seven runs over his last three starts.
As you might expect, the Cubs are sellers at the deadline, and they shipped Mark Leiter Jr out of their bullpen to the Bronx in exchange for Jack Neely, a fireballer who could be a major asset out of the bullpen after September call-ups or next season.
They sent Christopher Morel to Tampa Bay for Isaac Paredes, which was more of a “buy” move as the Cubs want to win in 2025, rather than take on a longer rebuild. Either way, though, the Cardinals got more of a boost out of the end of July.
^Cardinals at Cubs Final Score and Prediction for Sunday Night Baseball
Mikolas has pitched better in July as Steele’s numbers have started to swell. Once things go to the bullpen, things can get a little crazy for the Cardinals, but the same is also true for the Cubs.
Because this is a rivalry game at Wrigley, I’m going to take the slight value and go with the Cubs. Chicago 6, St. Louis 4.
^Sunday Series W. #RepBX pic.twitter.com/zQUH73dX9J
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 29, 2024
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