Chicago Cubs (36-38) vs St Louis (31-44)
When: Saturday, June 24th 2023
Where: London Stadium,
London
Time: 1:10 ET | TV: FOX
Opening Odds: Chicago -120/13.5
After a three-year break, the London series featuring Major League Baseball clubs resumes this weekend at London Stadium. One thing we do know about baseball in that stadium, is lots of runs are sure to be scored. Back in 2019, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox slugged it out for two days, scoring a combined 50 runs on 65 hits.
Oddsmakers aren’t messing around with a total in this year’s edition that features the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals. The Over/Under for Saturday’s contest is 13.5 despite two decent pitchers taking the mound – Justin Steele (Cubs) and Adam Wainwright (Cardinals).
The Cubs have won 10 of their last 12 games, while the last-place Cardinals with wins in four of their last five. Currently, the Cubs are on a torrid 8-1 stretch in which they have outscored their opponents 64-25, have a .366 on-base percentage and 2.44 team ERA. Nico Hoerner is batting .314 with 12 RBI over the last 12 games, while Mike Tauchman is hitting .325 with eight RBI in his last 11 contests.
Cardinals rookie Jordan Walker is batting .400 with four homers and eight RBI during a 13-game hitting streak, while struggling catcher Willson Contreras is finally getting hot, going 6-for-20 with four RBI in his last five games. St. Louis has taken two of the first three meetings this season.
Pitchers: Cubs – Justin Steele (7-2, 2.71) | Cardinals – Adam Wainwright (3-1, 5.56)
Steele missed about three weeks with a forearm strain but came back last Saturday by allowing two runs through five innings against Baltimore. He started against the Cardinals on May 10 and allowed seven hits and three runs over six innings of a 10-4 win. Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado are a combined 7-for-18 (.389) versus Steele.
Wainwright has allowed three runs in four straight starts, including last Saturday’s 5-3 win over the New York Mets over a season-high 6 1/3 innings. He is 19-14 with a 3.84 ERA in 48 career starts against the Cubs. Ian Happ is batting .344 (11-for-32) with four homers versus Wainwright, while Dansby Swanson is 0-for-11 against him.
Both teams come in hot, but the Cubs are hotter. They also have the better pitcher on the mound in a game that is expected to be high-scoring. I don’t trust Wainwright at this point in his career and he’s not having a good season.
Check out who Bobby Babowski has on his Free MLB Picks page for today.
Pick: Cubs -119
