Cardinals vs. Cubs prediction and odds for Tuesday, May 9 (Bounce Back from Jack Flaherty)

Willson Contreras may not be behind the plate for the St. Louis Cardinals anymore, but he’s doing damage at the plate as a DH. In his return to Wrigley Field last night, Contreras had two hits and drove in two runs in the Cardinals 3-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs are 17-18 and the Cardinals are 12-24. 

Tonight, Contreras and the rest of the St. Louis lineup will face Jameson Taillon who will make his fifth start of the season for Chicago. Taillon comes in with an 0-2 record and a 5.29 ERA. Jack Flaherty will start for the eighth time this year and is coming off his worst outing of the season. Flaherty is 2-4 with a 6.29 ERA. 

It’s Game 2 of this NL Central rivalry, so we need to get into the odds and I’ll tell you who I’m taking at Wrigley. 

Cardinals vs. Cubs odds, run line and total

Cardinals vs. Cubs prediction and pick

Once upon a time, Jack Flaherty was an NL Cy Young candidate, but through eight starts this year he looks like a candidate to be replaced in the Cardinals rotation. He certainly won’t be, but last time out he went 2.1 and gave up 10 earned runs on nine hits to the Angels. Willson Contreras was doing the catching that day and it seems like that start was one of the catalysts for the Cardinals transitioning their high priced free agent to DH.

Yesterday, I backed Miles Mikolas and took the under even after Mikolas had a horrendous start to the season. The logic was that with another catcher, Andrew Knizner, behind the plate, he would perform much better and Mikolas battled through 4.1 allowing just one run on four hits. It wasn’t All-Star quality from the two-time all-star, but it was an improvement and I think we’ll see that from Flaherty in this spot as well. 

Speaking of improvement, Jameson Taillon should be expecting his ERA to improve soon. He’s had some tough luck with a 5.29 ERA, but a 2.46 FIP that indicates he’s pitched much better than 11 runs in 17.0 innings this season. I think we’re staring at another low-scoring affair at Wrigley, so I’ll take the under. 

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change