The Chicago Cubs take on the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 2 of a doubleheader. Check out our MLB odds series for our Cubs Cardinals prediction and pick.

Sean Newcomb will start this game for the Cubs, while Jose Quintana makes his debut for the Cardinals.

Sean Newcomb has an 11.57 ERA, but you can ignore that as a predictor of what will happen here. He is likely to be the opener for the Cubs in a bullpen-by-committee game, for one thing. Also: He has pitched only 9 1/3 innings this year, and he has pitched in only one game since May 7 (which wasn't recent, at least not in the past month). The real question is how the Cubs' bullpen will perform in this game without Scott Effross and other pieces which were traded before the deadline. It's a new-look Chicago bullpen, but not in a good way. This game should significantly test the Cubs' ability to get outs with a vast array of arms.

Jose Quintana has a 3.50 ERA. He turned in a solid season with the Pirates, enough to merit the attention and interest of a number of teams before the trade deadline. The obvious news story attached to his relocation is that he was traded within the National League Central Division. He has great familiarity with the Cubs, but instead of pitching for the Pirates in a low-stakes context, he is now pitching for the Cardinals, in the middle of a division race. Quintana has pitched in division races before — ironically enough, when he was a member of the Cubs — and must now show he can handle the heat of a playoff push in St. Louis. It will be fascinating to see how he responds.

Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Cubs-Cardinals MLB odds.

MLB Odds: Cubs-Cardinals Odds

Chicago Cubs: +1.5 (-140)

St. Louis Cardinals: -1.5 (+116)

Over: 8 (-118)

Under: 8 (-104)

Why The Cubs Could Cover the Spread

The Cardinals did not significantly improve their roster at the trade deadline. The Cubs, after losing Game 1 of Thursday's doubleheader, will be motivated to strike back, get a split of this twin-bill, and avoid a sweep of the three-game series in St. Louis. Marcus Stroman didn't get the win for the Cubs in Game 1 on Thursday, but he did pitch 6 2/3 innings to relieve pressure on the Chicago bullpen, which did not get overworked and will be able to eat up innings for this game against the Cardinals.

St. Louis has generally treaded water in recent weeks. The Cardinals have struggled to maintain upward momentum. Based on that reality, you can predict that the Cubs will knock them back in this game.

Why The Cardinals Could Cover the Spread

Jose Quintana has a 2.81 ERA in 16 innings pitched against the Cubs this year. Chicago is a light-hitting team, and Quintana should be able to keep the Cubbies under wraps. The Cardinals should be energized after coming back from a 3-0, seventh-inning deficit to win Game 1 of Thursday's doubleheader. They also saw the Milwaukee Brewers blow 3-1 and 4-3 leads to lose to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cardinals can tie the Brewers for the N.L. Central lead if they win this game. You know the guys in that dugout will be revved up for this game against a clearly inferior Cub roster.

Final Cubs-Cardinals Prediction & Pick

Everything lines up well for the Cardinals in this game, chiefly the point that the Cubs — who had a really good bullpen — now have a noticeably worse pen after their deadline trades.

Final Cubs-Cardinals Prediction & Pick: Cardinals -1.5