MLB Betting – St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs

St. Louis Cardinals (-110) at Chicago Cubs (+100, 7 o/u)

Tonight (8:00 PM Eastern at Wrigley Field), the Chicago Cubs (46-37, 24-17 Home) will go for their first series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals (54-30, 23-19 Away) this season. But, in order to get it, the north-siders will have to overcome one of the best pitchers in the National League, as the Cardinals send ace Michael Wacha (10-3, 2.66 ERA) to the mound against Chicago’s Jason Hammel (5-4, 2.89 ERA).

The Cubs dropped the first of the current four-game set with St. Louis (6-0) on Monday, but bounced back by taking both ends of yesterday’s double-header (7-4, 5-3). The back-to-back wins ended a five-game losing streak against the Cardinals, who currently lead the Cubs by 7.5 games in the NL Central.

Despite being well back in the division race, the Cubs currently occupy the second of two NL Wild Card spots. For manager Joe Maddon, the focus remains on building a culture of success for the long-struggling squad. “We’re here to win,” Maddon said to the Associated Press after the double-header. “It’s not just to compete.”

Tonight’s starter, Hammel, has lost his last two decisions, but pitched well last time out, going 7.0 innings and allowing just four hits and two runs in a 2-1 loss to the Marlins. He’ll be hoping for a little more run support tonight from the Cubs batters.

But that will be a tall order against Wacha, who has been lights out for most of the season. He left his last start against the San Diego Padres with a no-decision, but gave up just one run over throwing for 7.0 innings of five-hit ball. Wacha has the second-most wins in the NL (10) trailing only Gerrit Cole of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Cubs had a good couple of games on Tuesday, but Wacha has been dominating lineups since the start of the year, and will do get the NL-leading Cardinals back on track tonight.

Pick: Cardinals -110.