pete-crow-armstrong-cbs.jpg
Imagn Images

Two National League Central rivals continue their series Saturday night when the St. Louis Cardinals take on the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs led the NL Central for most of 2025 but have lost considerable ground of late to the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers and now trail them by five games, though they still hold a Wild Card spot. The Cardinals won the series opener 5-0 on Friday and can secure a series win with a victory on Saturday. The Cubs will look to even the series and make up some ground on the Brewers on Saturday, Aug. 9, at 7:15 p.m. ET on FOX.

Baseball fans looking to get into MLB betting at the top sportsbooks can get the latest Cubs vs. Cardinals predictions and player props from the SportsLine Projection Model, which simulates every game 10,000 times. 

The Cubs are sending out Colin Rea (8-5, 4.23 ERA) for this NL Central battle. Rea has not pitched more than five innings in any of his past four starts, allowing 12 earned runs in 18.2 innings over that stretch. Andre Pallante gets the nod for the home team, as the St. Louis righty has a 6-8 record and a 4.57 ERA this season. 

Both Rea and Pallante's strikeout props at FanDuel Sportsbook are set at 3.5, with Pallante's Over a slight favorite (Over -116, Under -110), while Rea's Under is heavily juiced at -138 (Over +108). The SportsLine Projection Model's top pitching prop for this contest is Pallante Over 2.5 earned runs allowed (-130), rating it as a 4.5-star play out of 5. The model projects Pallante to allow 3.1 earned runs on Saturday.

Kyle Tucker, an MVP candidate in the National League, is +420 to homer in this one at FanDuel, which is tied with Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras for the shortest odds in Saturday's Cubs-Cardinals matchup. St. Louis infielder Nolan Gorman is right behind those two at +430, followed by Seiya Suzuki at +440 and Pete Crow-Armstrong at +450. St. Louis' Lars Nootbar and Chicago's Michael Busch are each +470.

It's pretty much a pick 'em for this clash, as the Cubs are listed at -113 (wager $113 to win $100) in the latest SportsLine consensus odds, while the Cardinals sit at at -106 (wager $106 to win $100). The total is positioned at nine runs. You can find the model's latest projections and expert picks for Cubs-Cardinals at SportsLine.

Here are the SportsLine model's projections for Cubs vs. Cardinals on Saturday.

CHICAGO CUBS at ST. LOUIS CARDINALS | 8/9 | 7:15 p.m. ET

Money line
Pick: Cubs -113
Chicago wins in 58% of simulations, bringing value at these odds

Run line
Pick: Cubs -1.5 (+144)
Chicago covers in 42% of simulations, bringing value at these odds

Over/Under
Pick: Over 9 (-105)
The Over hits in 49.1% of simulations

Projected score: Cubs 5.4, Cardinals 4.4