Today at 4:05 p.m. ET, the St. Louis Cardinals (54-47) and Chicago Cubs (41-59) kick off a three-game series live from Wrigley Field in Chicago. The game can be live streamed for free here. St. Louis fans can hear all of the action on KMOX 1120 while Chicago fans can do the same on WGN 720.
St. Louis starts a quick six-game road trip tonight after going 2-3 on a five-game homestand while Chicago continues a 10-game stint at home after dropping two of three contests to the San Diego Padres to kick it off.
The Cardinals look to end a three-game losing streak and enter play tied for second place in the National League Central, three games behind the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers while the Cubs hope to snap a two-game skid and are in fifth place in the NL Central, 15.5 games behind Milwaukee.
Joe Kelly (2-1, 2.84 ERA) toes the rubber for St. Louis while Chicago counters with Travis Wood, who is 7-9 with a 5.12 ERA.
The Cubs have six games before the MLB's non-waiver trade deadline, and they may just be sellers come next Thursday if they decide to make moves.
"We're in last place, so all of [the] work remains ahead," Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said via MLB.com. "What we've done is put ourselves in a position to make a lot of interesting decisions going forward and hopefully have two of the most important currencies in the game in young players and available payroll dollars and go make some hay."
The Cubs will look for success against Kelly, who came back from injury last start and had a good outing after changing his mechanics.
"It's a good start," Kelly told MLB.com. "I'm going to keep doing [the different motion] and do it as much as I can to just try and mix up pitches and hide stuff better."
Kelly will look to shut down a Cubs lineup that is paced by Anthony Rizzo, who is batting a team-best .284 and ranks first in the NL with 25 homers while adding a team-high 55 RBI. Rizzo is fourth in the NL in walks (56) and fifth in runs (70), total bases (196) and OPS (.924).
St. Louis responds with a lineup that is flanked by Matt Adams, who is second in the NL with a .320 batting average and has 12 homers and 43 RBI. Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta leads the team in homers (14) while outfielder Matt Holliday paces it in RBI (51).
Two division rivals go head-to-head when the Cardinals and Cubs take the field this afternoon at Wrigley Field.
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