MLB Betting Lines – Cardinals at Cubs

Wrigley Field will host the second of a three games series tonight as the Chicago Cubs takes on the St. Louis Cardinals at 8:00 PM ET.

MLB Betting Lines:
St Louis Cardinals
Jake Westbrook – R +1.5

Chicago Cubs
Matt Garza – R -1.5

Last night the Cards beat the Cubs 6-4 recording four wins in the last five matches and nine in the last 13. Albert Pujols had four hits to raise his batting average to .268; he has been on a slump lately as this was only his second multi hit game in the last 11 contests.

Despites Pujol’s bad moment St. Louis remains as the best team in the majors in runs, batting average and on base, plus they are second in slugging percentage with an amazing .434

If Chicago wants to steal at least a game from the series they need to start either finding more batting to outscore the Cardinals which doesn’t seem possible or they need to find a great pitching performance by Matt Garza, which also seem unlikely.

Garza is 1-4 this season with a 4.43 ERA. He’s coming from a loss against the Cincinnati Reds where he threw six innings allowed six hits and five runs in a 5-4 defeat.

St. Louis of course may be your best bet tonight not only because Garza is throwing, but because they are 15-6 in night games, 15-11 against right-handed starters and 4-1 as a road underdog of +100 to +125; not to mention 4-0 on the road when the total is 8 to 8.5.

Keep in mind the Cubs are 3-7 when playing against a team with a winning record, 2-5 at home when the total is 8 to 8.5 and 5-8 against division opponents.

Also consider 11 of 17 games played at Wrigley Field in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons.

Simmons’ pick: Take the Cardinals and the OVER.