Cubs vs Cardinals Free Pick, MLB Free Picks, MLB Predictions 6/23/25

CHICAGO CUBS @ ST. LOUIS (STL -115, 8.5)

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Cubs vs Cardinals Free Pick, MLB Free Picks, MLB Predictions 6/23/25

CUBS @ CARDINALS 6/23/25

At the beginning of June, Ian Happ, a left fielder for the Chicago Cubs, was hitting one home run a month on average this season. He hit on each in March, April, and May. On June 5, Happ added his fourth, and all of a sudden, he is hitting balls out of the park more frequently.

When the Cubs begin a four-game trip to the St. Louis Cardinals tonight, he will try to build on that success. Happ, who hit 25 homers last season had been frustrated with his early season performance.  This month, Happ has hit eight home runs. Three of those occurred in Chicago's three-game series against the Seattle Mariners over the weekend, and seven of those have occurred in his last 12 games. Before being held to just a single in Sunday's 14-6 loss, he hit two in Saturday's 10-7 victory.

Happ's slugging percentage of .573 this month is a significant improvement over the .350 he averaged during the season's first three months. Craig Counsell, manager of the Cubs, said that he anticipated something like this.

After winning four of their last five games, Chicago has lost three of their last four going into the series against St. Louis. The Cubs, who lead the National League Central, have recently had trouble stopping their opponents from scoring. They have given up 31 runs in their last three losses and 38 in their last four games.

Right-hander Ben Brown (4-5, 5.57 ERA) will start the series against St. Louis. It will be his first-ever appearance against the Cardinals. In their first meeting of the season, the Cardinals will be trying to get a little bit closer to their longtime rivals in the standings. In the National League Central, they are 4.5  games behind the Cubs.

St. Louis lost 4-1 to the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday, ending their five-game winning streak. However, the Cardinals are excited to have this series at the comfort of home at Busch Stadium. St. Louis is 24-15 at home this season.

The expected starter for the home team is left-hander Matthew Liberatore (4-6, 4.08 ERA). In his eight career appearances (two starts) against the Cubs, he is 0-1 with a 4.38 ERA.

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COACH RICK FREE PICK:

Game Total OVER 8.5

The Cubs are second in MLB in scoring and somehow they scored 20 runs over the weekend but still lost two of three games to Seattle. Chicago has scored 32 runs in its last five games and tonight they face Matthew Liberatore of the Cardinals. Liberatore had a quality start last time out - 6 IP, 2 ER - but it was against the White Sox. In his previous three starts, he gave up 16 earned runs. His ERA for the season is 4.08 and 4 of his last 5 starts have ended up going Over the total. Four of the last five Cubs games have gone Over the total and 6 of the last 7 games between these two teams have cashed on the Over.