Cubs vs Cardinals Odds, Player Props, Picks & Predictions (SNB)

• Bitter rivals meet on Sunday Night Baseball as the Chicago Cubs visit the St Louis Cardinals
• Shota Imanaga and Sonny Gray toe the rubber in the finale of this three-game series
• See the Cubs vs Cardinals odds and player props, plus my favorite picks to target on Sunday Night Baseball

The Chicago Cubs (67-49, 31-27 away, 54-52-7 O/U) and St Louis Cardinals (59-59, 33-25 home, 59-53-5 O/U) meet in the rubber match of a three-game series at Busch Stadium on Sunday Night Baseball this evening (6:10 pm CT/7:10 pm ET). The pitching matchup is a dandy with Chicago’s Shota Imanaga (8-4, 3.12 ERA, 1.00 WHIP) squaring off against St Louis’ Sonny Gray (10-5, 4.21, 1.17 WHIP).

The Cubs have a 4.5-game lead on the first Wild Card position, but trail the Brewers by five for the NL Central lead. The Cardinals, meanwhile, are already in desperation mode, sitting 4.5 games back of the third and final NL Wild Card with two teams to leapfrog and only 44 games remaining. Oddsmakers give the Birds a decent amount of respect with their de facto ace on the mound, but the Cubs are still slim road favorites.

Chicago Cubs vs St Louis Cardinals Odds

The Cubs range from -120 to -125 favorites, with bet365 currently offering the longest odds on the Chicago moneyline. The best price on a St Louis victory is +105 at Caesars. On the runline, Caesars also has the best price on St Louis +1.5 at -165. The best odds on Cubs -1.5 are at BetMGM (+145). The run total is 7.5 across the board, but bettors can find the over at -105 at bet365 and the under at -105 at Caesars. Odds as of 1:56 pm ET, August 10th. Use SBD’s guide to find the best MLB betting apps for Sunday Night Baseball.

St Louis won the series-opener 5-0 on Friday thanks to six shutout innings from rookie Michael McGreevy. The Cubs answered back with a 9-1 rout on Saturday, scoring at least one run in each of the first five innings.

CHC vs STL Player Props

MLB player props from DraftKings on Aug. 10th.

The two pitchers have similar odds. Both have an outs-recorded line of 17.5, with Gray slightly favored to stay under (-120) and Imanaga slightly favored to go over (-125). Both also have an earned-runs prop of 2.5 with the under heavily favored (-150 for Gray, -145 for Imanaga).

Gray’s strikeout line is one higher (5.5 vs 4.5) and his hits-allowed line is one lower (4.5 vs 5.5), though Gray is heavily favored to allow five-plus hits (-165), while Imanage is favored to stay under 5.5 (-145).

Cubs vs Cardinals Picks

• Cubs first-half moneyline (-120) at bet365
• Over 7.5 runs (-105) at bet365

I am taking the Cubs to win the first five innings at a -120 price tag at bet365. The bulk of my handicap is Imanaga’s dominance against this St Louis lineup. In 50 total at-bats, they have managed just a .160 average and miniscule .460 OPS against the Chicago lefty. They have 15 Ks against just one walk, and Maisyn Wynn has the lone home run. Brendan Donovan is 0-for-8 with four strikeouts.

The Cubs, meanwhile, have actually hit Gray pretty well, and the sample size is twice as big. In 101 at-bats, they have a well-above-average .297 average against the 35-year-old righty, along with a .891 OPS. Justin Turner has taken him deep twice in 13 at-bats, while Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ also have longballs against Gray.

St Louis’ bullpen has been considerably better than Chicago’s this season (3.64 vs 3.89 ERA, 3.89 vs 4.24 xFIP), so I’m not overly enthused about taking Chicago to win the full game at basically the same price.