Chicago Cubs vs St. Louis Cardinals – Series Preview (August 1-4): Overview, Game and Broadcast Info, Starting Pitchers, W2W4
The Cubs (52-58) dropped two of three in Cincinnati as the Tuesday trade deadline came and went. Jed Hoyer made only a minor bullpen trade after shipping Christopher Morel and two other players to Tampa for Isaac Paredes Sunday. It’s a bit surprising there wasn’t more of a roster teardown with Chicago only on the very outside fringes of the playoff race.
The North Siders have been absolutely dreadful against the National League Central with a 14-25 division record after losing the series against the Reds. That means the Cubs are 38-33 against everyone else in baseball this season. The bad news is that next up is another divisional matchup with the Cardinals coming to Wrigley for four games.
The Cards (56-52) have been treading water since wrapping up the first half against Chicago with a 6-6 mark in the second half and currently find themselves on the outside looking in for the final Wild Card spot. They re-acquired temperamental outfielder Tommy Pham Monday and he caught fire immediately to spark consecutive blowout victories over the Rangers Tuesday and Wednesday.
Otherwise, not much has changed with the Cardinals since the last time they battled the Cubs. The bullpen continues to outperform the starting staff while Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado are still underperforming at the plate. Alec Burleson has been a problem for Chicago pitchers this season.
The chance for Craig Counsell‘s team to be a factor in the playoffs is very small, but they could mess up the Cards’ playoff opportunity in a big way this weekend and that’s the next best thing. Even though it won’t matter for this season, it would be very reassuring if the Cubs could actually play well the final two months of the schedule. They don’t really have the excuse of being broken up at the deadline so they have a chance to prove they can be better than they’ve been.
Game Time and Broadcast Info
- Thursday, August 1 at 7:05pm CT on MLB Network (out of market only) and Marquee.
- Friday, August 2 at 1:20pm CT on MLB Network (out of market only) and Marquee.
- Saturday, August 3 at 1:20pm CT on MLB Network (out of market only) and Marquee.
- Sunday, August 4 at 6:10pm CT on ESPN.
Starting Pitchers
| Date | Pitcher | Age | T | ERA | W/L | FIP | K/BB |
| 8/1 | Shōta Imanaga | 30 | L | 2.95 | 8-2 | 3.34 | 6.53 |
| Sonny Gray | 34 | R | 3.79 | 10-6 | 2.86 | 5.11 | |
| 8/2 | Javier Assad | 27 | R | 3.23 | 5-3 | 4.59 | 2.05 |
| Erick Fedde | 31 | R | 3.11 | 7–4 | 3.77 | 3.18 | |
| 8/3 | Jameson Taillon | 32 | R | 3.35 | 7-6 | 3.96 | 3.73 |
| Kyle Gibson | 36 | R | 3.97 | 7–4 | 4.15 | 2.22 | |
| 8/4 | Justin Steele | 29 | L | 3.38 | 2-5 | 3.30 | 3.63 |
| Miles Mikolas | 35 | R | 4.99 | 8-8 | 4.26 | 4.15 |
What to Watch For
- Pete Crow-Armstrong has two multi-hit games in his last four played.
- Cody Bellinger has five hits including a home run in his first two contests back from a broken finger.
- Imanaga has allowed just four runs in 12.2 innings pitched since the All-Star break and the Cubs have won both of his starts.