On The Horizon: Cubs vs. Cardinals series preview

Unfortunately, the weather for this series isn't going to be much better than the last one. Less wet, perhaps, but not much warmer. The teams will press through it as best they can.

The Cardinals have now gone two seasons without making the postseason, their longest postseason drought since they missed three straight from 1997-99. To give us an update on them, I asked Josey Curtis, new managing editor at our SB Nation Cardinals site Viva el Birdos, to tell us about her team.

Eliminated by these Cubs in the 2015 postseason, the Cardinals have gone through (by their standards) some rough waters since. Offensive inconsistency and some bullpen weariness have lead to early winters, but the team is hopeful that variety of changes this last offseason can reverse that trend. The team is hopeful that the additions of Miles Mikolas, Luke Gregerson, and Greg Holland to their pitching staff can iron out those woes; so far, Mikolas has been dependable for a rotation with some youth, while Gregerson hasn’t pitched and Holland has shown significant rust. The addition of Marcell Ozuna complements the surges of Tommy Pham and Jose Martinez, on top of mainstays Dexter Fowler, Matt Carpenter, and Yadier Molina.

If it all goes well, 2018 should be a good one for the ‘birds.

Fun fact

The Cardinals enter this game with a much better record on the road (7-3) than at home (2-4). Small sample size, of course, and four of those road wins are over the awful Reds.

Pitching matchups

Monday: Tyler Chatwood, RHP (0-2, 4.91 ERA, 1.818 WHIP, 4.16 FIP) vs. Adam Wainwright, RHP (0-2, 5.06 ERA, 1.500 WHIP, 5.32 FIP)

Tuesday: Jon Lester, LHP (1-0, 4.40 ERA, 1.674 WHIP, 4.11 FIP) vs. Michael Wacha, RHP (2-1, 5.52 ERA, 1.636 WHIP, 5.45 FIP)

Wednesday: Kyle Hendricks, RHP (0-1, 3.71 ERA, 1.471 WHIP, 6.01 FIP) vs. Luke Weaver, RHP (2-0, 2.08 ERA, 0.981 WHIP, 2.72 FIP)

Times & TV channels

Monday: 6:05 p.m. CT, WGN, ESPN (outside Chicago and St. Louis markets)

Tuesday: 7:05 p.m. CT, NBC Sports Chicago

Wednesday: 1:20 p.m. CT, ABC7 Chicago, MLB Network (outside Chicago and St. Louis markets)

Prediction

I keep saying two of three every series. One of these times I’m actually going to be right. Two of three, especially with two of the Cardinals starters (Wainwright and Wacha) struggling.

Up next

The Cubs are off Thursday, then travel to Denver to face the Colorado Rockies in a three-game series beginning Friday evening.