St. Louis @ Chicago picks

Both of these teams have struggling starters on the hill but the Cubs have a slightly better bullpen and a significantly better offense. They are fourth in the majors in OPS (.768) and second in runs per game (5.33). Meanwhile, the Cardinals are 15th in OPS (.716) with that number slimming to .690 on the road. The Cards have been shut out in five of their last eight games which includes the tail-end of their series against the Cubs in St. Louis last week. In addition, the Cubs have home-field advantage and have gone 15-5 in their last 20 games at Wrigley.

Cardinals hitters boast a .912 OPS against Cubs starter Jameson Taillon, and St. Louis will counter with left-hander Matthew Liberatore. The last time the southpaw faced Chicago, he went seven strong innings, allowing just two earned runs while striking out five. Take St. Louis to prevail at Wrigley. 

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Dansby Swanson in the 87th percentile when assessing his overall offensive talent.. Dansby Swanson is penciled in 5th on the lineup card in this matchup.. Wrigley Field has the 4th-shallowest LF dimensions among all major league stadiums.. According to the weather report, the temperature and humidity for this matchup will be the 4th-most favorable for hitting on the slate today.. Home field advantage typically improves batter metrics across the board, and Dansby Swanson will hold that advantage today.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Lars Nootbaar in the 93rd percentile when estimating his overall offensive skill.. Lars Nootbaar is projected to hit 5th in the batting order in this matchup.. According to the weather report, the temperature and humidity for this matchup will be the 4th-most favorable for hitting on the slate today.. Batting from the opposite that Colin Rea throws from, Lars Nootbaar will have an advantage in today's game.. Lars Nootbaar has been hot in recent games, raising his seasonal exit velocity of 92.2-mph to 96.1-mph in the past two weeks.

According to the leading projection system (THE BAT X), Seiya Suzuki ranks as the 18th-best batter in Major League Baseball.. Seiya Suzuki is projected to hit 3rd on the lineup card in this game.. Wrigley Field has the 4th-shallowest LF dimensions among all major league stadiums.. According to the weather report, the temperature and humidity for this matchup will be the 4th-most favorable for hitting on the slate today.. Seiya Suzuki will have the benefit of the home field advantage in today's matchup, which figures to improve all of his stats.

Wrigley Field has the 4th-shallowest LF dimensions among all major league stadiums.. According to the weather report, the temperature and humidity for this matchup will be the 4th-most favorable for hitting on the slate today.. Carson Kelly will hold the home field advantage today, which should boost all of his stats.. With a .356 Expected wOBA (or xwOBA, an advanced metric created by the leading projection system (THE BAT X) based on Statcast data) this year, Carson Kelly is positioned in the 87th percentile for hitting ability.. Grading out in the 92nd percentile, Carson Kelly sports a .371 wOBA (widely regarded as the top measure of overall offense) this year.

Nolan Gorman is projected to bat 7th in the lineup in this game.. The leading projection system (THE BAT) profiles Wrigley Field as the 8th-worst ballpark in Major League Baseball for run-scoring.. Among all major league stadiums, the 7th-tallest fence height (on average) are at Wrigley Field.. According to the weather report, the temperature and humidity for this matchup will be the 5th-most favorable for hitting on the slate today.. Today, Nolan Gorman is at a disadvantage facing the league's 5th-deepest RF fences given that he hits his flyballs to the pull field at a 35.3% rate (90th percentile).

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Lars Nootbaar in the 93rd percentile when estimating his overall offensive skill.. Lars Nootbaar is projected to hit 5th in the batting order in this matchup.. Batting from the opposite that Colin Rea throws from, Lars Nootbaar will have an advantage in today's game.. Lars Nootbaar has been hot in recent games, raising his seasonal exit velocity of 92.2-mph to 96.1-mph in the past two weeks.. Lars Nootbaar has been unlucky this year, notching a .316 wOBA despite the leading projection system (THE BAT X) estimating his true talent level to be .342 — a .026 gap.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Lars Nootbaar in the 93rd percentile when estimating his overall offensive skill.. Lars Nootbaar is projected to hit 5th in the batting order in this matchup.. Batting from the opposite that Colin Rea throws from, Lars Nootbaar will have an advantage in today's game.. Lars Nootbaar has been hot in recent games, raising his seasonal exit velocity of 92.2-mph to 96.1-mph in the past two weeks.. Lars Nootbaar has been unlucky this year, notching a .316 wOBA despite the leading projection system (THE BAT X) estimating his true talent level to be .342 — a .026 gap.

According to the leading projection system (THE BAT X), Seiya Suzuki ranks as the 18th-best batter in Major League Baseball.. Seiya Suzuki is projected to hit 3rd on the lineup card in this game.. Wrigley Field has the 4th-shallowest LF dimensions among all major league stadiums.. Seiya Suzuki will have the benefit of the home field advantage in today's matchup, which figures to improve all of his stats.. Seiya Suzuki has made notable gains with his Barrel%, improving his 11.5% rate last year to 19.6% this year.