On The Horizon: Cubs vs. Cardinals series preview

Since these two teams last met May 23, the Cubs have gone on a nice 11-5 run. Meanwhile, the Cardinals are 6-10 in that time span and have lost eight of their last 10.

For more on the Cardinals, here’s Josey Curtis, manager of our SB Nation Cardinals site Viva el Birdos.

The Cardinals enter this weekend’s series at Wrigley Field fresh off a win over Cleveland — a much-needed win to snap a six-game losing streak.

St. Louis has dealt with plenty of injuries recently, losing three-fifths of their starting rotation, including Jack Flaherty, Kwang Hyun Kim, and Miles Mikolas. Harrison Bader is also on the injured list, but Paul DeJong will return for the club this weekend.

After nearly a week’s worth of quiet bats, the Cardinals are starting to wake up, slowly but surely. Nolan Arenado is batting .346 over his last seven games, and Tyler O’Neill (the team leader in homers, with 15) has three long balls in the past week.

Johan Oviedo, John Gant, and Carlos Martinez are the scheduled starters for the Cardinals this weekend. All three of them are coming off rough outings, so it’ll be interesting to see how the three righties fare this weekend in such important games.

Fun fact

You might already know this, but if not: Patrick Wisdom was once a No. 1 pick of the Cardinals (52nd overall, supplemental pick, 2012). In seven years in the Cardinals minor league system he hit 100 home runs in 751 games.

Probable pitching matchups

Friday: Kyle Hendricks, RHP (7-4, 4.59 ERA, 1.413 WHIP, 5.48 FIP) vs. Johan Oviedo, RHP (0-2, 5.25 ERA, 1.542 WHIP, 6.02 FIP)

Saturday: Kohl Stewart, RHP (1-1, 3.12 ERA, 1.500 WHIP, 4.42 FIP) vs. John Gant, RHP (4-3, 2.63 ERA, 1.591 WHIP, 4.55 FIP)

Sunday: Zach Davies, RHP (3-3, 4.45 ERA, 1.566 WHIP, 4.51 FIP) vs. Carlos Martinez, RHP (3-6, 6.21 ERA, 1.293 WHIP, 4.23 FIP)

The Cubs pitchers listed above are an out-and-out guess. As of the time of this post the Cubs had not announced any starters for this series. It seems likely that Hendricks and Davies will go as noted above. Saturday’s starter could also be Alec Mills (2-0, 6.08 ERA, 1.521 WHIP, 5.86 FIP). We’ll find out soon enough. Friday’s game preview will post at 11:30 a.m. CT.

Times & TV channels

Friday: 1:20 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network, MLB Network (outside Cubs and Cardinals market territories)

Saturday: 6:15 p.m. CT, Fox-TV (regional — coverage map)

Sunday: 6:08 p.m. CT, ESPN

Prediction

The Cardinals come in reeling, having lost six of seven and 11 of 17.

The pitching matchups here aren’t great, but the Cubs do avoid Adam Wainwright, who’s been a real nemesis, and the Cubs have played very well at home (21-10 entering this series). They’ll take two of three.

Up next

The Cubs head to New York for a four-game series with the Mets beginning Monday evening.