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St. Louis Cardinals vs. Chicago Cubs MLB Lines

MLB Betting – Cardinals vs Cubs Preview & Prediction

The defending champion Cardinals have not missed a beat without Albert Pujols in the lineup, as they lead the NL Central and rank 4th in the Majors in runs scored.

Venue/ Stadium: Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois
Time/Date: 8:05 PM EST Monday, April 23, 2012
NCAA Odds From: Bovada
Moneyline: Cardinals -120 / Cubs +100
Over/Under:  7.5 runs

Matchup | Preview

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Chicago Cubs Preview

On the other side of the coin the Cubs are off to a terrible start being in the basement of the NL Central and they have the fewest wins in the National League. MLB lines have the visiting Cardinals as the favorite tonight with a run total of 7.5.

In their last games the Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1 while the Cubs lost to the Cincinnati Reds 4-3.

This season the Cardinals have an O/U record of 6-10 with a run-line W/L record of 11-5 and the Cubs have an O/U record of 10-5 with a run-line W/L record of 7-9.

The reason for the Cubs slow start is that they only rank 20th in the Majors in runs scored and 25th in team ERA.

The Cardinals will be short-handed in this game, as Lance Berkman (.348) was recently put on the DL and Jon Jay (.349) may join him after a recent arm injury.

Jaime Garcia (2-0, 3.06 ERA) takes the hill for the Red Birds tonight and in his last start was stellar only giving up 1 earned run in 7 innings of work in a win over the Reds. Matt Garza (1-1, 3.66 ERA) goes for the Cubbies tonight and he was shelled in his last outing giving up 6 earned runs in 5 innings in a loss to the Marlins. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]

Garcia went 2-0 with a 2.11 ERA in 3 starts against Chicago last season.

Garza has been struggling on the road, but at Wrigley Field he has started 13 straight games where he has not allowed more than 3 earned runs. In 2 starts at home last season facing the Cardinals Garza had 2 wins only giving up 1 earned run in 12 innings of work.

Even without Jay and Berkman the Cardinals feature Rafael Furcal, who is batting .369, and David Freese, Carlos Beltran, and Yadier Molina, who have combined for 11 HR and 34 RBI.

Cubs SS Starlin Castro is batting .365, but the Chicago lineup lacks a lot of pop since Bryan LaHair is the only player that has more than 1 HR and no player has over 10 RBI.

In some betting trends for this NL Central match up the Cardinals are 5-1 in their last 6 games as a road favorite, 1-4 in Garcia’s last 5 road starts vs. a team with a losing record, and they have an Under record of 6-0 in their last 6 games.

The Cubs are 2-5 in their last 7 games as a home underdog, 4-1 in Garza’s last 5 home starts, and they have an Over record of 5-2 in their last 7 home games.

Jason’s Pick: Garza has owned the Cardinals in his last few starts and I think that trend will continue and even as the home underdog I think they will win this game.

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By Jason Green

Jason Green is back with Cappers Picks again to give out his free sports plays. As always he's hoping the Braves and Redskins can win a championship since their last one in the 90’s was long ago. He’s starting to know the pain of Cubs fans.