The Cubs open a three-game series against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field on Friday, getting the first visit from St. Louis to Chicago this season. The opener starts at 3:05 p.m. CT, and it arrives with the Cubs playing as well as anyone in MLB while the Cardinals come in trying to stop a skid.
David Peterson gets the start for the Cubs against Andre Pallante, a matchup that puts the spotlight on a rivalry that still moves fast even when the calendar says June. The Cubs have won 15 of their last 19 games, but they are still five games behind Milwaukee and six back in the loss column, which is the kind of gap that keeps every homestand from feeling finished before it starts.
That is why this series matters now. The Cubs moved half a game ahead of the Phillies for the top wild-card spot when Philadelphia lost to the Pirates on Thursday, and the Reds also beat the Brewers, tightening the race around Milwaukee. The same stretch that has pushed the Cubs upward has also reminded them that being hot is not the same as catching the team above them.
There is some history behind the numbers, and it favors Chicago at home. The Cubs are 715-551 against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field, a.565 winning percentage that is better than their.545 mark at home against all other teams. Over 2,529 games since 1892, the Cubs hold a slight edge overall, 1,282 wins to 1,228, with the rivalry nearly even in runs, 11,057 to 11,038. That imbalance at Wrigley is part skill and part familiarity: the same venue, the same crowd, and a long series of games in which Chicago has had a little more of the field than the visitors.
The tension for the Cubs is that the recent surge has not erased the places where this matchup can still bite back. The Cardinals won two of three in St. Louis in late May, and the Cubs answered later by taking two of three in July, including an opener in which they hit eight home runs. They swept three games at Wrigley to end last season, but the series does not stay neat for long. Saturday brings Shōta Imanaga against Kyle Leahy at 7:08 p.m. CT on Fox-TV, and Sunday closes with Javier Assad against Matthew Liberatore at 1:30 p.m. CT on Peacock.
The Cubs also just tied their team record for home runs in a game against the Padres on Wednesday, which gives this home stand a sharper edge. After Sunday, they have Monday off before traveling to Baltimore for a three-game series against the Orioles beginning Tuesday evening. If the Cubs are going to turn their current form into something bigger, this is the kind of weekend that usually tells the truth.
