MLB Baseball
2025-08-08 - Chicago Cubs at St Louis Cardinals
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : MLB Baseball
Friday 8th August 2025 - Scheduled 8:15pm
1:15am (British Time)
Preview
Only one National League team have won more games than the Chicago Cubs (66-48) this season, but unfortunately that is the Milwaukee Brewers, a Central Divisional rival. There are 4 games between the Cubs and the leading team, but there is still plenty of time to turn things back around even if some have pegged Milwaukee as the best team in the Major League.
All the Cubs can do for now is to keep focusing on themselves and they have a roster that is capable of having a huge impact in the Playoffs. They have been struggling for a bit of consistency over the last couple of weeks, but facing a Divisional rival in this series should offer plenty of motivation.
It is the St Louis Cardinals (58-58) who will be hosting and they are still very much in the Wild Card race in the National League. After losing four of five games, the Cardinals did bounce back by beating the Los Angeles Dodgers when winning two of three games to move back up to 0.500 for the season.
The home team will give the ball to Michael McGreevy who has a 3-2 record with a 5.08 ERA in seven appearances in 2025 with six of those being in starts. This is just the second season in the Major League for the pitcher who has struggled to reach the level he had produced in a very small sample of games in his rookie season in 2024.
Back to back starts against the San Diego Padres have ended with Michael McGreevy allowing eleven earned runs in a little over 10 Innings thrown, although he did finish up with a 1-1 record from those outings.
Michael McGreevy was grateful to the St Louis Cardinals batting lineup when facing the Chicago Cubs earlier this season. He was not involved in the decision, despite allowing five runs and being withdrawn in the 5th Inning, and that is the only start McGreevy has had against this rival.
The Chicago Cubs will counter with veteran Matthew Boyd who is on course to put together his best ever year in the Major League. After undergoing Tommy John surgery, Matthew Boyd bounced back with eight strong starts for the Cleveland Guardians and that saw him earn a contract with the Cubs ahead of this year.
He has already made the most starts in a single season since 2019 and Matthew Boyd has put together an 11-4 record and 2.34 ERA in the twenty-two starts made in this uniform. The numbers are special considering they are an improvement on the 2.72 ERA in the eight Cleveland starts last year and the fact that Matthew Boyd has only once previously been under 4.00 as a regular pitching starter.
Matthew Boyd ended July by being rocked by the Milwaukee Brewers for five runs in 5 Innings thrown and he absorbed the decision loss, but he bounced back by keeping Baltimore scoreless in 7 Innings thrown to open this month. That also means Boyd has not given up a single run in four of his last five starts and completed at least 5 Innings in all of those to impress a little bit more.
This will be the third time Matthew Boyd has faced the St Louis Cardinals in 2025 and he has yet to give up a run against this opponent having completed 11 Innings. Unsurprisingly, those numbers have led to decision wins in both games and Boyd will certainly be playing with plenty of confidence.
St Louis won the first two games against the Cubs in 2025, but it is Chicago who have won four of the last five.
Prediction
The numbers produced by veteran Matthew Boyd are quite surprising considering his career body of work, but he is maintaining a strong level.
He has given the St Louis Cardinals fits this season and Matthew Boyd may be able to lay a positive foundation for the Chicago Cubs to open this series with a victory.
The Pick :
St Louis Cardinals 1-5 Chicago Cubs
