St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs prediction, pick for 5/8: Willson Contreras returns to Wrigley

Yardbarker Quick Pick

The Cardinals finally won a game on Sunday, snapping a seven-game losing skid. Still, they've gone 3-13 over their past 16 games, and we're fine to go right back to fading them. That belief grows stronger when we see Miles Mikolas toe the rubber for the Cards. Mikolas brings a rough 5.79 ERA and 1.66 WHIP to the table, so give us the Chicago moneyline at -135. — Griffin Carroll, Yardbarker

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Monday, 7:40 p.m. ET
St. Louis Cardinals: +1 (-136) runline, +120 moneyline, over 7 (-105)
@ Chicago Cubs: -1 (+112) runline, -135 moneyline, under 7 (-110)

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Perhaps St. Louis' struggles will make Contreras more receptive to the Wrigley crowd Monday night.

"I'm pretty sure there's going to be a lot of (Cubs) fans that are going to be happy to see me," the veteran catcher told the Chicago Sun-Times.

"And there's going to be a lot of fans that think I betrayed them because I'm playing with the Cardinals. ... But it's part of baseball, part of the business."

However, Contreras likely could not have imagined that his early experience with the Cardinals would be this frustrating.

"I take the losses personally because I came here to win," Contreras told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Especially since St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol recently announced Contreras, who is hitting .265 with two homers and 14 RBIs, will be mostly used as a designated hitter and outfielder going forward. Catchers Andrew Knizner and Tres Barrera will be used behind the plate to provide familiarity for a Cardinals pitching staff that ranks in the bottom half of the majors with a 4.59 ERA and .273 opponents' batting average.

Monday's scheduled starter Miles Mikolas (1-1, 5.79 ERA) took a no-decision after allowing three runs and eight hits while striking out five without a walk in 5 2/3 innings of Wednesday's 6-4 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

The right-hander has been solid against the Cubs, going 5-3 with a 2.16 ERA in 16 career appearances (14 starts). However, he yielded nine runs (seven earned) in 11 2/3 innings in two 2022 starts at Wrigley.

Chicago's Eric Hosmer, Nico Hoerner and Tucker Barnhart are a combined 16-for-41 (.390) against Mikolas. Cody Bellinger is 0-for-7 versus Mikolas but is batting .318 in his last 11 contests for the Cubs, who have gone 6-11 after starting 11-6.

Prized Cubs first-base prospect Matt Mervis went 4-for-14 with two RBIs, and played some solid defense, during his first major league series after making his debut Friday.

"He hits it hard, for sure," Cubs manager David Ross said of Mervis. "I liked the way he handled the moments."

Scheduled Cubs starter Marcus Stroman (2-2, 2.18) has enjoyed a strong start to 2023 and allowed a run with five hits and three walks in six innings while taking a no-decision at Washington on Wednesday. However, the right-hander yielded 14 runs and 21 hits over nine innings in two 2022 home starts versus St. Louis.

St. Louis star Paul Goldschmidt is 8-for-18 with three homers and two doubles versus Stroman. Goldschmidt homered three times Sunday and is 9-for-19 with six RBIs in the last four games for the Cardinals, who haven't won two straight since April 11-12.