The St. Louis Cardinals welcome in the Chicago Cubs again tonight in Major League Baseball action. The game is scheduled for an 8:15 p.m. start time and it will be televised live on MLB Network. Currently the odds for the game have the Cardinals favored to pick up the win in this one at home.

St. Louis and the Cubs have one of the best rivalries in baseball. Now that the Cubs are good again it should bring increased intensity to the rivalry.

The Cardinals own the best record the baseball at 48-24 and they continue to pick up wins even though they've battled some injuries this season. The Redbirds are an impressive 26-7 in their own park this season, which is the best mark in the league by far.

John Lackey starts tonight for the Cardinals, he's 6-4 on the year with a 3.41 ERA. Current Cubs have a .250 average against him in 76 plate appearances, nobody has homered off of him while Lackey has 19 strikeouts during those at bats.

He'll be opposed by Jake Arrieta, who is 7-5 with a 3.07 ERA this season. Arrieta has been solid for the Cubs all season and has a nice track record against the Cardinals, going 3-0 with a 0.74 ERA against them in his first six starts. His last start against them wasn't great, though, when he allowed five runs over 5 1/3 innings of work.

Current Cardinals own an average of .211 against Arrieta in 133 plate appearances. Mark Reynolds has homered off of him, Jason Heyward has five hits in 12 at bats.

This has the makings of a lower-scoring game. Both Arrieta and Lackey have thrown well this season and in these rivalry games pitching is critical. The Cardinals get the win here as they continue to dominate at home.

Free Pick: Cardinals

Stop the All-Star Game Ballot Stuffing

Pro handicappers Teddy Covers and Steve Fezzik have a bone to pick with MLB Commisioner Bud Selig, who decided the All-Star exhibition game will determine World Series home field advantage. With Royals fans currently voting seven Kansas City players into the starting line up of the American League team, this popularity-based roster of an exhibition game which has way too much impact on the most important baseball series of the year.

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