Free Sports Game Preview and Prediction: St Louis Cardinals vs. Chicago Cubs
Saturday, July 04, 2026 8:08 PM
Play: Money Line: -150 Chicago Cubs
The MLB is giving us a solid Baseball Night in America with the Cubs and Cardinals on July 4th. The Chicago Cubs will be seeking redemption after dropping the first game of this series. They were absolutely throttled 17-1. The Cardinals cooled off a Cubs team that has won 4 out of their last 5 and 8 out of their last 10. The Cubs have just the pitcher to even up this series in prime time. The Chicago Cubs will be utilizing left-hander Shota Imanaga. Imanaga has been pitching below his expectation lately with a 5-6 record and a 4.39 ERA with 92 strikeouts. He has been solid in his last 30.67 innings against the St. Louis Cardinals posting a 2-2 record with a 3.83 ERA. Jose Fermin, JJ Wetherholt, Alec Burleson, Jordan Walker, Masyn Winn, Ivan Herrera, Nelson Velazquez have combined to go 11 for 48 when taking on Shota Imanaga. Imanaga is coming off 6.1 innings of 2 run ball against the Padres. Right-hander Kyle Leahy gets the ball for the St. Louis Cardinals. He has been better than expected this season with a 6-4 record and 4.09 ERA over 16 appearances. The walks have started to tick up though with 5 walks in his last 10.1 innings on the mound and the Cardinals have managed to lose 3 of his last 5 starts. The Chicago Cubs are 26-18 when playing at home this season. The Cubs are hitting righties for an average of 5.2 runs per game this season and that ups to 6.7 in their last 10 games. The Cubs & their offense should get back on track after the embarassing loss on Friday.