The St. Louis Cardinals will be looking for their 16th win in a row when they face the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on afternoon.
St. Louis is already on the longest winning streak in franchise history and has to like its chances of keeping it rolling today as sizable MLB betting road favorites.
Can Chicago find a way to avoid being the fourth straight team to get swept by St. Lou? Find out in our Cardinals vs. Cubs picks and predictions for September 26.
Cardinals vs Cubs game info
• Location: Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL
• Date: Sunday, September 26, 2021
• Time: 2:20 p.m. ET
• TV: ESPN+, BSN
Cardinals vs Cubs odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
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Cardinals vs Cubs betting preview
Starting pitchers
Jake Woodford (3-3, 3.92 ERA): Woodford’s is going off a start where he gave up just two hits across five shutout innings against the Milwaukee Brewers. It's continued a strong September for the 24-year-old, who has allowed just three earned runs over 18 1-3 innings (four games/three starts) during that span. He’s not giving lenghty efforts, but he's keeping opponents in check and giving the Cardinals offense a chance.
Keegan Thompson (3-3, 3.40 ERA): Thompson is more of an opener for the Cubs, as the 26-year-old has pitched more than two innings in a game just four times in 31 appearances. Thompson has also given up nine earned runs over his last 9 2-3 innings heading into this game , but for whatever it’s worth, Thompson has faced the Cardinals five times this year (a total of 6 2-3 innings) and has held them scoreless in four of those outings.
Weather
Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions with our MLB weather info.
Key injuries
Cardinals: Dylan Carlson OF (Out).
Cubs: Nico Hoerner SS (Questionable), Robinson Chirinos C (Out), Jason Heyward OF (Out).
Find our latest MLB injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Over is 20-6-2 in Chicago’s last 28 home games against right-handed starters. Find more MLB betting trends for Cardinals vs. Cubs.
Moneyline pick
It’s not easy to suggest a team long out of the postseason going against a Cardinals team that is on a historic run, but the value is there for the Cubs in this one.
While St. Louis’ 15-game winning streak has completely fueled a postseason run for this team, the Cardinals now find themselves with a five-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies for the second NL Wild Card spot. With so few games left, it’s going to be hard for St. Louis to maintain its recent sense of urgency the rest of the way, as it’s nearly impossible for the Cardinals to blow that lead now.
St. Louis is also due for a letdown — and it’s much more likely to happen with Woodford on the mound than any of the team’s other starters.
Woodford has pitched well in the month of September, but he doesn’t have all that much experience as a starter to this point. Throughout most of his young career, the righty has worked as an arm out of the bullpen. With that in mind, his second and third — if he makes it that far in this game — time through the Cubs lineup could be trouble. He hasn’t quite run into that problem recently, but it did trouble him in July, when Woodford had a 5.93 ERA over 13 2-3 innings of work while completing five innings in back-to-back games (for the first time all season).
Also, while this Chicago team had a massive trade deadline selloff and is just waiting for the season to end, the Cubbies have been surprisingly explosive on offense in recent weeks. Over the last 15 days, Chicago is third in the league in OBP against right-handed pitching and the team is also second in stolen bases and eighth in batting average in that span.
Chicago is doing a lot of things to create opportunities to manufacture runs, and the team just shouldn’t be this big of an underdog at home today.
PREDICTION: Cubs (+145)
Over/Under pick
This total is definitely set a little higher than you’d like to see it, but the Over is still clearly the right side in this game.
The Cardinals earned an 8-3 victory yesterday, marking the third straight game in this series that comfortably went Over, with these teams combining for an average of 14 total runs per game.
The reality is that the Cardinals offense is scorching hot right now... but the Cubs are also getting their share of run-scoring opportunities as well.
Both of these teams are sending uninspiring options to the mound to start this game, which means we should also see these a lot of these bullpens. With that in mind, it’s hard to envision this not being another high-scoring affair.
The Over also happens to be 11-1 in Chicago’s last 12 games as an underdog.
PREDICTION: Over 10.5 (-110)
Cardinals vs Cubs betting card
- Cubs ML (+145)
- Over 10.5 (-110)
Picks made on 9/26/2021 at 10:02 a.m. ET
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