First pitch: Monday, 6:05 p.m. ET
NL Division Series – Game 3
I wLine: St. Louis +200, Chicago -220, Total: 5.5

The Cardinals will be looking to avoid a 2-1 deficit when they face Jake Arrieta and the Cubs in Chicago on Monday.

Chicago had its back against the wall in Game 2, but the team was able to come away with a big victory to even up the series. The Cubs teed off on Jaime Garcia early on, scoring five runs in the second innings and the Cardinals were never able to recover from that. The victory for Chicago gives the team nine wins in its past 10 contests. The Cubs have clicked on all cylinders recently and they’ll now send RHP Jake Arrieta (23-6, 1.70 ERA, 247 K) to the mound against RHP Michael Wacha (17-7, 3.37 ERA, 153 K) of the Cardinals. Chicago is 18-1 against the money line when Arrieta is on the mound in the second half of the season this year. St. Louis, however, is 44-17 against the money line off a loss to a division rival as a favorite over the past three seasons. The Cardinals will also feel confident the rest of this series due to the fact that they are 12-9 against the Cubs this season. Both teams will be entering this game at full strength, so this should be a very exciting one on Monday.

Michael Wacha really struggled in the month of September, pitching just 24.0 innings in five starts and putting up a 7.88 ERA in those outings. He has not been the pitcher this team needs him to be and that will have to change on Monday or his team could be facing an early exit from the postseason. The last time Wacha faced the Cubs was Sep. 19, when he pitched five innings and allowed four earned runs on two homers and six hits. He allowed six earned runs and two homers in four innings of work against the Cubs just two starts earlier on Sep. 8. If he is unable to keep the ball in the park then St. Louis will almost assuredly be facing a 2-1 series deficit after this one. Offensively, the Cardinals will need to find a way to get some hits off of the game’s hottest pitcher. One guy who has had some success against Arrieta in the past is OF Jason Heyward (.293, 13 HR, 60 RBI). Heyward is 6-for-18 with a double and an RBI against the ace, but is also just 2-for-8 overall in this year’s playoffs. He’ll be hoping to break out of his slump in this one. Another player to look out for this game is OF Stephen Piscotty (.305, 7 HR, 39 RBI). Since being called up, Piscotty has been this team’s most reliable hitter. That continues to be the case in the postseason, as Piscotty is 3-for-8 with a homer and two RBI in this series. He’ll need to come through on the road here on Monday.

Jake Arrieta was brilliant in the NL wildcard game, pitching nine innings of shutout baseball and striking out 11 batters in the process. He is, however, facing a Cardinals team that game him the most trouble of anybody over the past three months. The seven hits he allowed in a 7-4 victory over St. Louis on Jul. 7 is the most he’s given up since June. Fortunately, he was able to get his team a win in that one and he’ll be hoping to be a bit better than that on Monday. Offensively, the players to watch in this game are 1B Anthony Rizzo (.278, 31 HR, 101 RBI), 3B Kris Bryant (.275, 26 HR, 99 RBI) and SS Starlin Castro (.265, 11 HR, 69 RBI). These three guys have dominated Wacha in their careers, going a combined 23-for-54 with five homers and 14 RBI against the pitcher. If they can find a way to produce at anything near that rate in this one then Arrieta should be able to take care of the rest and get this team a 2-1 series lead.