The St. Louis Cardinals welcome in the Chicago Cubs again tonight in Sunday Night Baseball action. The game is scheduled for an 8;00 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on ESPN. Currently the odds for the game have the Cardinals favored to pick up the win in this one at home.

St. Louis still owns the best record in baseball, having reached the 50-win plateau already. The Cardinals do all the little things right and it's worked out for them so far this year despite the major loss of Adam Wainright on the mound. Losing a Cy Young contender isn't easy, but St. Louis has found a way to survive and they've still pieced together enough to continue to be great. 

Tonight the Redbirds will hand the baseball to Carlos Martinez as they look to sweep the Cubbies out of town. Martinez is 8-3 on the season with a 2.89 ERA in his starts. One of those starts came against the Cubs and St. Louis won that game despite Martinez giving up seven earned runs in that one over just 3 2/3 innings.

Current Cubs own an average of .324 against him in 37 plate appearances. Anthony Rizzo has homered off him, Chris Denorfia has hit safely in all three of his at bats in a small sample size.

The Cubs will throw Jason Hammel tonight. He has a very respectable ERA this season at just 2.65 for Chicago, Hammel has compiled a 5-2 record to this point and has not made a start against the Cardinals. Current Cardinals have an average of .348 against him in 89 plate appearances. Jhonny Perlta owns two homers while Jason Heyward has eight hits in just 14 at bats. 

Although Hammel's ERA of 3.02 on the road is very solid, it's almost a full run higher than his home numbers. Martinez also has allowed a higher ERA in his starts at home comparatively. But with both pitchers continuing to be solid this season, it will come down to just a 

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.

$25 of picks FREE! No Obligation - No Credit Card Required - Becoming a member is Fast and Free!