Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals Odds, Analysis, Baseball Betting Preview

The last time the Chicago Cubs started the season as defending World Series champions in 1909, the rival St. Louis Cardinals were coming off their most losses in team history as the worst team in the National League.

While the results were nowhere near that bad last year for the Cardinals, they still ended up missing the playoffs for the first time in six years. They will try to begin this season on a positive note Sunday night as +110 home underdogs against the favored Cubs, according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.

St. Louis should be better in 2017 thanks to the addition of former Chicago leadoff man Dexter Fowler, who inked a five-year deal worth $82.5 million in the offseason. It is far too early to tell if the Cubs will miss Fowler at the top of their lineup, but he was instrumental in helping them win the World Series and should make the Cardinals stronger.

That move came one year after Chicago signed pitcher John Lackey and outfielder Jason Heyward away from St. Louis, weakening the 2015 NL Central champs.

This rivalry is among the best in baseball, so bettors should expect the Cardinals to be highly motivated to win this game. In addition, the Cubs just endured a dismal spring training campaign in which they finished near the bottom of the Cactus League standings.

Chicago won the regular-season series 10-9 in 2016, according to the OddsShark MLB database, after topping St. Louis 3-1 in the NL Division Series the previous year.

The Cubs will send Jon Lester (19-5, 2.44 ERA last season) to the mound on Opening Night opposite Carlos Martinez (16-9, 3.04) for the Cardinals. Adam Wainwright had started the previous four openers for St. Louis, but the 25-year-old Martinez is viewed as the new ace of the pitching staff.

Martinez had a solid spring and posted a 1.13 ERA in two World Baseball Classic starts for the Dominican Republic. However, last year he went a disappointing 1-3 with a 4.80 ERA in five starts versus Chicago.

Lester enjoyed a renaissance in 2016 following only the second losing season of his career in his first year with the Cubs. The 33-year-old lefty was fantastic in three starts against the Cardinals, going 2-0 with an 0.87 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 20.2 innings.