MLB Betting Picks July 31 – Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals

Three teams are within 1.5 games of each other in the NL Central and the St. Louis Cardinals moved to the top of the heap with a 2-1 win over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night.

The Cubs will attempt to even the series and regain a share of first place when they send Kyle Hendricks to the hill Wednesday in the middle game of a three-game set at Busch Stadium. The Cards will try and extend their lead with Miles Mikolas taking the bump. The game will air live on ESPN with betting options for every game on the Wednesday MLB schedule available at BookMaker.eu.

Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals

Date and Time: Wednesday, July 31, 2019, 8:15 p.m. ET

Location: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, MO

Probable Pitchers: Kyle Hendricks vs. Miles Mikolas

Opening MLB Odds: St. Louis -110, Chicago -110, O/U 8.5

Cubs at Cardinals TV Coverage: ESPN

Odds Analysis

With their win in the series opener the Cardinals continued a unique streak going. The home team in the season series has won all 10 games and three of St. Louis’ four wins have been by identical 2-1 scores. The Cubs have dropped six of their last eight games to see a three-game lead in the division turn into a one-game deficit. Surprisingly the Cubs are the worst road team in the NL falling to 20-32 away from Wrigley Field this season.

Right now it looks like the Cards are the team that wants to win the NL Central. At the beginning of the season it was the Brewers, and the Cubs had a run to the top before the All-Star break. The way things have played out so far we can expect more of the same over the final two months, making the head-to-head matchups more important. Thanks to 13 wins in their last 17 games the Cards jumped into first place.

Probable Pitchers

Sporting a 2.88 ERA over his last five starts, Kyle Hendricks ( 7-8, 3.26 ERA ) should have more to show for it than an 0-3 record. The Cubs scored a total of eight runs in those games and lost all of them. Hendricks was his usual efficient self in his last outing blanking the Brewers on two hits over 5.0 innings with five strikeouts. He was in line for the win until the shaky bullpen gave up a two-run lead.

Hendricks has enjoyed a lot of success against the Cards over his career going 7-2 with a 2.93 ERA in 16 lifetime games. He tossed a gem against the Cards on May 3 requiring just 81 pitches in a 4-hit shutout. He has allowed just one run over 16 innings going 2-0 against them this year.

Miles Mikolas ( 7-10, 4.19 ERA ) followed up his second career shutout three outings ago with a pair of quality starts flashing the form that made him an All-Star in 2018. He cruised through five innings giving up a single run before tiring in the sixth. He had enough of a cushion to get the win after his mates put up a six-spot on the Buccos.

Mikolas has been lights out at home this year with a 2.15 ERA and .226 BAA against in 10 starts. The record is just 5-4 in those games, but he’s given the team a chance to win every time. Against the Cubs on May 31, he tossed a season-high 104 pitches limiting them to six hits and a run over 7.0 frames. He is 3-1 with a 1.88 ERA in his career against the north siders.

Key Stat

The Cubs are the only MLB team to hold a lead in all their games since the break. It hasn’t done them much good since they are just 9-7 in those contests, including losses in six of their last eight. They led Tuesday’s game 1-0 before the Cards knotted the score and secured the game-winner on Paul Goldschmidt’s home run. Goldy’s hot streak has propelled the Cards to their run to the top of the division. He now has seven homers in his last eight games with a .364 average and 14 RBIs in that span. Goldschmidt has 11 homers this month and 25 for the season.

Bet Cubs at Cardinals at BookMaker.eu

Chicago’s road woes are a definite concern now that we’ve reached the end of July. The bottom line is that the Cubs are too good to continue playing so poorly away from home, but they haven’t been able to turn things around. Despite that they are just a game out of first place and playing their biggest rival with so much at stake should bring out the best in them. It also brings out the best in the Cards, who haven’t lost to the Cubs at Busch this season. Runs have been hard to come by in STL and we should have another pitcher’s duel on Wednesday. I don’t trust the Cubs bullpen and they’ve struggled in one-run games, making the Cards the moneyline play.

MLB Score Prediction: Cardinals 4, Cubs 2

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