The Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals are playing on the MLB schedule on Friday night and the matchup from Busch Stadium is streaming online from MLB.com and has Jeff Samardzija on the hill against Joe Kelly and the NL Central division game starts up at 8:15 pm ET and matches up the Cubbies and the Cards for the first time this season.
The Cubs have started the season as expected and they are coming in at 3-6 on the season and are fourth in the NL Central and now they will have Samardzija on the hill and he comes in at 0-1 on the season, but he has pitched well, striking out 11 batters already and he will be up against another young starter in Kelly and they are facing off in Missouri before Adam Wainwright pitches on Saturday for the Cardinals. St. Louis comes into the game at 5-4 on the season and they just lost to the Reds in a shutout by Mike Leake and they are trying to bounce back on Friday night after Shelby Miller took the loss.
The Cardinals come into the game at 26th in the league in runs and 27th in batting average and that is likely just a slow start, as the team usually has been an offensive juggernaut in the NL. The team is 26th in on base and 27th in slugging percentage and the pitching ranks 10th in the league with five quality starts per game. The team is 16th in batting average allowed and Mike Matheny hopes to get a nice start out of Kelly to avoid taxing the bullpen. The game on Saturday is an afternoon game and the Cubs are hoping their bats wake up as well, as they are ranked 23rd in scoring so far and they are hitting just .239.
The Cubs are expected to finish last in the division in the National League central and they are hoping to improve as they rebuild the organization and Samardzija is the top starter. Samardzija could be traded by seasons end, but for now he is the top starter with the Cubs and he is looking to stay sharp as the season gets off to a start. Samardzija has an ERA under 2.00 this season and he has pitched well at Busch Stadium in the ast and he has gone 1-1 over two starts at the stadium last season.