The St. Louis Cardinals have a big series coming up against the Chicago Cubs

The St. Louis Cardinals are currently in the second wild card spot at 48-44, but there are a lot of games to go and they are far from comfortable with only a one-game lead on the third place spot. They take on the Chicago Cubs in four games this weekend with a doubleheader on Saturday.

The Cardinals and Cubs have already faced each other in two series — the Cardinals are 4-1 in those games (with one of the rainout games getting played in this upcoming series). So we kinda know what the Cubs are all about by now. They are 18th in league with a team wRC+ of 96. The best hitter has been Michael Busch who is slashing .278/.369/.484 for 141 wRC+. Christopher Morel is leading the team in home runs with 16.

Baseball Reference has two probables for the Cubs listed: Kyle Hendricks and Jameson Taillon. The doubleheader starters are still to be determined. The Cardinals have faced these pitchers several handfuls of times with their lengthy tenure either on the Cubs specifically, in Hendricks case, or in the NL Central in Taillon’s case. Hendricks has pitched against the Cardinals in 27 games and he has gone 14-3 in those games with a 2.62 ERA in over 171 innings. In recent years he has decreased how often he throws his four seamer while relying more heavily on his changeup, but overall his pitch arsenal remains the same. He relies on 4 pitches: changeup (39.1%), sinker (35.9%), curveball (12.6%), and four Seamer (12.4%).

Taillon and the Cardinals have less history, facing each other just 14 times compared to 27. Taillon is 5-2 against the Cardinals with a 3.36 ERA. He is a must different look from Hendricks. He has five pitches he throws with any regularity: four seamer (33.7%), cutter (23.3%), curveball (17.0%), sweeper (16.4%), and sinker (6.7%). His cutter has been his best pitch per run value at 6, which puts him in the 90th percentile among pitchers in fastball run value.

So that’s what is coming up. And then we have the All Star Break. Sure would be nice for the Cardinals to go into that with a series win, eh?