Not going to lie, I second-guessed myself before I made the bet, but I'll ride the mini-hot streak with my Cubbies. I just can't ignore the combined stats of Nico Hoerner / Michael Busch / Ian Happ / Seiya Suzuki / Carson Kelly against St. Louis starter Andre Pallente. Combined, those five are a career 20 of 36 (.556) against the right hander, while current Cardinals are hitting a collective .192 against Cubs starter Shota Imanaga. It's probably a lot to ask the Cubs to win three straight road games, but then again, there's no more streaky team in baseball than the Northsiders.

Shota Imanaga has been rocked in his last two outings, allowing 15 runs over 10.1 innings in losses to the Brewers and Astros. Prior to that, he’d allowed two runs or fewer in seven of eight starts. Shota has been much better on the road (3.09 ERA, 0.94 WHIP), and he’s here in St. Louis against a Cardinals team with a .588 OPS vs. LHPs the last two weeks. After losing 10 in a row, the ultra-streaky Cubs have now won two straight and scoring 17 runs in those games. Speaking of home/road splits, Cardinals RHP Andre Pallante is 4-0 on the road, but 1-4 with a 4.82 ERA at home.