The Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals are set to renew their rivalry once again on Monday. A critical series for both teams, which squad will come out ahead in the three game matchup?
On Monday, the Cardinals travel to Chicago’s north side for their first visit to Wrigley Field this season. The three game set is being billed as the first genuinely crucial moment in both teams’ seasons.
For the Cardinals, who enter Sunday 11.5 games behind the record-pace setting Cubs, the magnitude of urgency is maximized. It may well be as close to a “must-sweep” as any June series can be, for if they don’t, they risk leaving town with an insurmountable gap to make up over the season’s remaining three plus months.
Meanwhile, for the Cubs, it is an opportunity to catapult themselves into an impermeable stratosphere, more or less putting things in the Central on lock down; earning themselves a cushion sufficient to endure any second half slump that may arise. As we prepare for these two storied rivals to meet, let’s take a look at eight key story lines we’ll be following
Next: A question for the Cubs lineup