The set-up: The Cardinals sit 2.5 games back of the Cubs to open this series. These teams met a week ago in St. Louis and the Cardinals managed to sweep all three games. It's "payback" time now that the Cubs are at Wrigley though. The home side goes with Cole Hamels, who took a hard-luck loss vs. St. Louis last week by allowing one unearned run and two hits over seven innings, while the visitors counter with Miles Mikolas.

The pitchers: Mikolas (4-5, 4.41) has done well against the Cubs throughout his career, going 3-0 with a 1.31 ERA in seven career appearances.

Hamels (4-3, 3.62) is 4-6 with a sharp 2.48 ERA in 15 career games vs. St. Louis.

The pick: Take it for what you will though, but the Cubs are 7-1 in their last eight in trying to revenge a three-game sweep vs. a division opponent, while St. Louis is just 10-15 (-5.3 units) on the road this season. I like Chicago to avenge last week's sweep in St. Louis by taking Game 1 easily. Lay the price.

10* CUBS