Chicago Cubs @ St. Louis Cardinals – Series Preview (September 2-4): Overview, Game and Broadcast Info, Starting Pitchers, W2W4
The Cubs (56-75) dropped their series in Toronto against the Blue Jays and are now 7-8 in what will be a stretch of 18 consecutive games against teams with winning records. Chicago is now headed to St. Louis to finish this difficult chunk of the schedule and finalize the season series with the Cardinals (76-55).
The Redbirds have won their last two series after taking three of five against the Cubs at Wrigley. Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt are still the big bats in the lineup and Albert Pujols remains a power threat despite having cooled off the past few games. The Machine is particularly tough against lefties, so he should certainly be in the lineup for Saturday’s game.
Chicago will again see the Cardinals’ hottest pitchers this series with Jordan Montgomery and old man Adam Wainwright taking the hill. Ryan Helsley has been outstanding in the bullpen this season and is back with the team after missing the previous series due to the birth of his first child.
The Cubs have played pretty well with an undermanned lineup against playoff-hungry opponents. They probably won’t be able to play spoiler because St. Louis has a 6.5 game division lead, but it would be nice to win a series at Busch Stadium.
Game Time and Broadcast Info
- Friday, September 2 at 7:15pm CT on Marquee Sports Network.
- Saturday, September 3 at 6:15pm CT on Marquee Sports Network.
- Sunday, September 4 at 1:15pm CT on Marquee Sports Network.
Starting Pitchers
| Date | Pitcher | Age | T | ERA | W/L | FIP | K/BB |
| 9/2 | Adrian Sampson | 30 | R | 3.97 | 1-4 | 3.81 | 2.94 |
| Jordan Montgomery | 29 | L | 3.28 | 7-3 | 3.56 | 4.63 | |
| 9/3 | Drew Smyly | 33 | L | 3.24 | 5-7 | 4.04 | 3.65 |
| Adam Wainwright | 40 | R | 3.09 | 9-9 | 3.55 | 3.02 | |
| 9/4 | Marcus Stroman | 31 | R | 3.98 | 3-6 | 3.87 | 2.93 |
| Miles Mikolas | 34 | R | 3.48 | 10-10 | 3.91 | 4.13 |
What to Watch For
- Seiya Suzuki is hitting .385 (10-26) in his last seven games.
- Alfonso Rivas has a hit in every game he’s played since being recalled from Iowa.
- Pujols is just six home runs short of 700 and better not reach that milestone this weekend.
- Smyly has allowed just three runs in his last 30 innings pitched, good for an 0.90 ERA.