Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals Betting Preview
Where: Busch Stadium, Saint Louis
When: Wednesday, April 5, 2017, 1:45 PM ET
Line: Chicago Cubs (-130) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (+120); total: 8.0 – view all MLB lines
TV Broadcast: MLB Network
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Betting on the Chicago Cubs (1-1)
John Lackey’s 14th season in the big leagues kicks off later tonight at Busch Stadium, where he’ll try to stymie the defending World Series’ champions’ bats.
Lackey’s very familiar with Busch Stadiums having pitched for the Cardinals before and staying in the National League Central thereafter. Thus far in his career, Lackey has a 12-4 record and a 2.02 ERA in 24 starts. He pitched two games at Busch Stadium last year, going 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA—three earned runs on eight hits across 14 total innings. The Cubs are 3-0 in Lackey’s last three road starts.
As for the offense, the Cubs are definitely loaded with scary good hitters, a couple of whom appear to have a good read of Cards’ starter Lance Lynn. Jason Heyward is 3-for-8 with a pair of doubles in his career off Lynn. Anthony Rizzo, meanwhile, could dent Lynn’s confidence anew later tonight. The star first baseman is 10-for-29 with three doubles and two home runs in the past against the Cards’ right hander.
Betting on the St. Louis Cardinals (1-1)
Lance Lynn must be feeling like a rookie again. Lynn missed the entire 2015 season to recover from a Tommy John surgery and in his first game back in the majors in a long while, he’ll be thrown right in front of the hard-hitting crew of the Cubs.
Before going on a lengthy absence, Lynn had a decent 2015 campaign, wherein he had a 12-11 record and a 3.03 ERA. But his isolated numbers against the Cubs that year doesn’t sound comforting. Lynn was 0-3 with a dizzying 7.64 ERA in four starts versus the Cubs in 2015. And with him just coming back from a year-long absence from the majors, it’ll be a guessing game on how Lynn would fare on the mound.
Lynn’s documented struggles against the Cubs bring some extra pressure on the Cardinals’ current hitters, who have a collective batting average of .259 against Lackey.
Jhonny Peralta is 12-for-37 lifetime against Lackey, while Aledmys Diaz and Kolten Wong have a combined 6-for17 in their career against the Cubs pitcher.
Writer’s Prediction
Chicago (-130) wins, 6-4.
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