Chi. Cubs Cubs vs St. Louis Cardinals Picks and Predictions August 2nd 2024

There does appear to be a chance of rain in Chicago on Friday, where the Cubs and Cardinals are facing off at Wrigley Field. First pitch for this one is set for 2:20 PM ET. MARQ will carry the game on TV, and the money line odds have the Cubs at -107, while the Cardinals are favored at -111.

St. Louis is currently 2nd in the NL Central and has a record of 56-53, while the Cubs are 5th in the division at 53-58. Javier Assad will start for the Cubs, while the Cardinals are giving the ball to Erick Fedde. Chicago is currently on a two-game winning streak.

St. Louis vs. Chicago Key Information

St. Louis is sending right-hander Erick Fedde to the mound today vs. the Cubs. He has made 21 starts this season and has a record of 7-4 with a 3.11 ERA. Fedde’s WHIP for the season is currently 1.14. In his last outing, he took the loss, giving up three earned runs in four innings of work. Before that, he had won three straight starts. Fedde has made 12 appearances on the road, going 2-2 with a 4.35 ERA. At home, he is 5-2 with a 2.09 ERA.

Heading into today’s game, the Cardinals offense is averaging 4.2 runs per game, which is 20th in the league. They have been slightly better at home, averaging 4.4 runs per game. As a team, they are batting .247, which is 10th in the league, and are also near the top of the league in terms of team BABIP. St. Louis has been led offensively by Alec Burleson, who is batting .281 with a team-high 18 home runs and 63 RBIs. Nolan Gorman also has 19 homers this season but is batting just .202.

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Masyn Winn has gone just 6/26 in his last six games, but he does have two home runs during that stretch. For the season, he is batting .281 with eight homers. Paul Goldschmidt has been hot of late, going 9/23 in his last six games with two homers. Goldschmidt has also scored six runs in this stretch.

Javier Assad is coming off a solid outing vs. the Royals in which he picked up the win. In that start, he went six innings and gave up three earned runs. Looking back further, he has made 19 appearances and 19 starts this season, coming in with a record of 5-3 and an ERA of 3.23. Opponents are batting .240 off the right-hander this season. Assad has made four quality starts this year and is averaging 8.18 strikeouts per nine innings. For the season, he has allowed 13 homers and is averaging 3.99 walks per nine innings.

So far this season, the Cubs are averaging 4.2 runs per game, which is 23rd in the league. As a team, they are batting just .234, which is 17th in the MLB. However, they do come into the game with a few hot hitters, as Seiya Suzuki has gone 12/31 in his last eight games, including three homers. Nico Hoerner is also on a five-game hitting streak.

Chicago’s top power hitter this season has been Isaac Paredes and Ian Happ, as both players have 16 homers. Happ’s 62 RBIs are the best mark on the team, but he is batting just .233 for the season. Paredes comes into the game with a batting average of .243.

Our lean for a money-line pick would be to take the Cardinals to come out on top in this one. And despite our projections pointing to this being the 4th lowest-scoring game of the day, we would lean towards taking the over. Looking at the starters for this matchup, neither Erick Fedde nor Javier Assad are projected to put up big strikeout numbers, but between the two, we have Erick Fedde working deeper into the game.

Cards Try to Rebound vs. Cubs in Erick Fedde’s Team Debut

Right-hander Erick Fedde makes his St. Louis Cardinals debut on Friday evening as the meeting Cardinals attempt to return from a walk-off misfortune to the Chicago Cubs in the series opener.

Fedde Joins the Cardinals

Fedde (7-4, 3.11 ERA), one of the more sought after starting pitchers at the exchange cutoff time, was gotten along with outfielder Tommy Pham from the Chicago White Sox as a component of a three-team exchange that remembered the Los Angeles Dodgers for Monday.

“Obviously, it was a big day,” said Fedde, a former prep teammate of Bryce Harper at Las Vegas High School. “So much excitement coming to a team that’s pushing for a playoff berth, and I’m hoping to affect the team in a very positive manner.”

Fedde left a White Sox team that has the worst record in baseball and is in excess of 40 games behind the first-place Cleveland Watchmen in the American League Central to join a Cardinals team that is in runner up in the National League Central, 5 1/2 games behind Milwaukee and just two games out of a special case spot.

In three career starts against the Cubs, Fedde is 0-0 with a 5.51 ERA. He confronted Chicago on June 5 and got a no-choice subsequent to throwing five innings of three-run ball.

Cubs’ Walk-Off Victory

The Cubs are last in the NL Central and six games out of a wild-card spot after rallying for a 5-4 walk-off victory over the Cardinals on Thursday.

St. Louis looked to be in good shape after taking a 4-2 lead with three runs in the seventh inning: a two-run homer by Masyn Winn and an RBI single by Nolan Arenado.

The Cardinals brought in All-Star closer Ryan Helsley, tied with Cleveland’s Emmanuel Clase for the major league lead for saves with 33, for the ninth inning. However, Cody Bellinger cut the lead to 4-3 with a home run, Dansby Swanson tied it with an RBI double, and pinch hitter Mike Tauchman followed with an opposite-field double down the left field line to win it.

“Yeah, that was fun,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “The ninth inning against a really good closer. The (Bellinger) home run and then three straight two-out hits. Not easy to do. Guys put together great at-bats.”

“It’s a great feeling,” said Tauchman, who battled back from an 0-2 count to slice a 2-2 fastball that clocked 98.9 mph into the left field corner. “You always want to contribute to the team. We’ve battled a lot of adversity this year. It’s no secret we’re not where we want to be (in the standings) right now.”

Tauchman said of Helsley, “Power arm. Made a couple of really good pitches. You’re just trying to foul off anything close. I just snuck it inside the line.”

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Cubs’ Momentum

Now the question is, can the Cubs, who will start right-hander Javier Assad (5-3, 3.23 ERA) on Friday, be able to build on the momentum generated by arguably the team’s biggest comeback win of the season?

“It’s a good start to the month,” Tauchman said. “We’ve got two months left, and we have to play our best baseball. Simple as that.”

Assad is 0-2 with a 3.80 ERA in eight career appearances (three starts) against St. Louis. He has started two times versus the Cardinals this year and struggled each time. Assad surrendered four runs in five innings during a misfortune on May 26, then, at that point, yielded three runs in 2 1/3 innings during a no-choice on July 13.

Game Standpoint

As the Cardinals mean to bounce back from an extreme walk-off misfortune, they will depend on recently gained Erick Fedde to give a strong start. The Cubs, riding the high of their new emotional triumph, will hope to expand on their energy with Javier Assad on the hill. This matchup vows to be a serious and invigorating continuation of the series between these NL Central rivals.