St. Louis Cardinals vs Chicago Cubs Prediction: An important one for the two sides

On Friday, the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals will kick off their National League Central division series against each other at Busch Stadium by playing the first game of the four-game set. Who will take the first game of the series between two rivals who both need victories to have a chance at the wild card with just over two months left to play?

The St. Louis Cardinals have been working hard to improve their performance since the all-star break, and their series against the Arizona Diamondbacks to start the week was a great way to get things moving. The Cardinals were able to take two of three games in the series, including an 11-7 victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday. The Cardinals improved their overall record to 46-57 with the victory, but they continued to trail the Brewers by 11 games for the lead in the National League Central and 9.5 games in the race for the National League Wild Card. The Cardinals are currently ranked second in batting average (.280), third in team OPS (.810), and 15th in ISO (.170) for the month of July so far. Paul Goldschmidt has a team-high 111 hits, and Willson Contreras has a team-high 22 doubles for the Cardinals this season. Nolan Arenado leads the Cardinals with 22 home runs, 77 RBIs, and a batting average of.287. Willson Contreras has a team-high 22 doubles for the Cardinals. Miles Mikolas, who has a record of 6-5 on the season with a 4.33 earned run average and 86 strikeouts, will receive the start for the St. Louis Cardinals in this game.

The Chicago Cubs have shown some major fight and grit since returning from the all-star break, and now they have won five games in a row with their 10-7 victory against their rival White Sox on Wednesday. This victory was the series finale between the Cubs and the White Sox. After the victory, the Cubs improved to 50-51 on the season, drawing them even closer in the races for the NL Central and NL Wild Card. They are currently 4.5 games behind in the race for the NL Wild Card and 6 games behind in the race for the division. Chicago is ranked sixth in the month of July in terms of batting average (.268), tenth in terms of team OPS (.767), and eighteenth in terms of ISO (.161). While Nico Hoerner is leading the Cubs with 110 hits, 57 RBIs, and a.280 batting average so far this season, Patrick Wisdom has hammered a team-high 17 home runs for the Cubs so far this year. With 20 doubles this season, Ian Happ is also leading the Chicago Cubs in the category of two-baggers. This game will be started for the Cubs by Justin Steele, who is 10-3 on the season with a 2.95 earned run average and 96 strikeouts.

The Chicago Cubs have my backing in this matchup. The Cardinals had that wonderful series win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, but they have to travel back in for this game, and I'm still not all that sold on the Cardinals, especially with Mikolas pitching at home, where he's got an ERA approaching five this season. I'm still not sold on the Cardinals. At this point in the season, the Chicago Cubs are playing with a healthy amount of self-assurance, and Steele has been one of the primary reasons for that. As a result, this ought to be a hard-fought and nail-biting victory for the Chicago Cubs away from home.