Sunday night baseball brings the NL Central showdown from Wrigley Field in Chicago, so here’s the best Cardinals vs. Cubs betting pick along with the latest odds update on Bookmaker Sportsbook. 

The Cards are listed as -136 road favorites, while the Cubs sit at +126 moneyline odds. They wrap up a five-game series. After splitting the first two contests, the Cardinals and Cubbies played a twin bill on Saturday.  

The Cardinals continue to chase the Brewers                            

The St. Louis Cardinals suffered a 6-1 defeat in the first clash of Saturday’s doubleheader at Wrigley Field, falling to 30-23 on the season, while the second game of the twin bill has been excluded from the analysis. 

The Cardinals were second in the NL Central following a 14-5 dismantling of the Cubs this past Friday. They trailed the Milwaukee Brewers by a couple of games. The Cards owned the fourth-highest scoring offense in the majors, tallying 4.92 runs per game. 

Adam Wainwright will take the mound Sunday, and the 40-year-old righty is 5-4 with a pristine 2.75 ERA in ten starts (59 innings) this season. Waino put on a strong performance in a no-decision against the San Diego Padres last Tuesday, allowing only a couple of hits and a walk across seven shutout innings while striking out ten. 

The Cubs need more from Justin Steele                           

The Chicago Cubs improved to 23-30 on the season following that 6-1 victory over the Cardinals on Saturday afternoon. Matt Swarmer took a win in his second major-league start, pitching six frames of a one-run ball, while the Cubs’ lineup finished with 13 hits and four walks. 

The Cubbies were sitting at the fourth spot in the NL Central, seven games behind St. Louis. They were scoring 4.46 runs per game (12th in the MLB) on a .240/.320/.392 slash line (.240/.311/.388 league average). 

Justin Steele will take the hill Sunday, and the 26-year-old southpaw is 1-5 with a pedestrian 5.40 ERA and 1.57 WHIP in ten starts (40 innings) in 2022. Steele has been awful for most of the season. Over his last two showings (seven innings pitched), Justin has surrendered a whopping ten earned runs on ten hits and six walks. 

Trends:

St. Louis: 

  • 10-5 in the last 15 games overall  
  • 4-1 in Adam Wainwright’s last five starts    

Chi Cubs:

  • 2-6 in Justin Steele’s last eight starts 

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Chicago Cubs Pick 

Both Cardinals and Cubs have done a good job at the plate over the last couple of weeks. Justin Steele cannot be trusted, so I’m backing the visitors to win. The current Cards are slashing .306/.306/.556 in 15 at-bats against Steele, while the current Cubs have a .241/.283/.473 triple-slash in 121 at-bats versus Adam Wainwright. 

Waino is 12-5 with a serviceable 4.06 ERA in 23 career starts and five relief appearances at Wrigley Field. The Cardinals are destroying the lefties this season, racking up a .276/.352/.453 slash line for the highest OPS against the southpaws in the majors. 

Pick: Take St. Louis Cardinals at -136                            

The Total:

Over the last ten days, the Cardinals’ bullpen has recorded a 4.00 ERA and 4.57 FIP, while the Cubs’ relievers have posted a miserable 6.40 ERA and 4.93 FIP. Hereof, it’s hard to expect a low-scoring affair, especially with Justin Steele on the mound. 

The Cubs should be able to score a couple of runs off Adam Wainwright. If the Cardinals continue to torture the lefties, the teams should combine for ten or more runs in this matchup. The over is 6-4 in the last ten meetings between the Cards and Cubs. 

Pick: Go over