First pitch: Tuesday, 8:15 p.m. ET
Line: Chicago -135, St. Louis +125, Total: 7.5

The Cardinals will be looking to win a second straight home game against the Cubs on Tuesday.

The opening day meeting between the Cubs and Cardinals was pretty epic, as St. Louis won the game on a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning. Chicago had tied the game with a three-run bomb in the top of the ninth, but that was not enough to hold off a hungry Cardinals team. St. Louis is tired of hearing about Chicago’s 2016 World Series victory, and the team is ready to compete this season. On the mound for the second matchup between these teams will be RHP Jake Arrieta (18-8, 3.10 ERA, 190 K in 2016) for the Cubs and RHP Adam Wainwright (13-9, 4.62 ERA, 161 K in 2016) for the Cardinals. Arrieta was not very good in Spring Training this year, as he posted a 5.79 ERA in 14.0 innings of work. He had a down year in 2016, so hopefully that spring performance is just him knocking off the rust and not a continuous downward spiral from a year ago. Wainwright was, however, even worse in the spring, posting a 7.78 ERA in 19.2 innings of work.

Jake Arrieta had a bad spring, but he will likely welcome an early season meeting with the Cardinals. In four starts against St. Louis last season, Arrieta was 3-1 with a 2.38 ERA and a total of 26 strikeouts. It’d be big if he can pitch seven or so innings of solid baseball on Tuesday. Offensively, Chicago is going to need its stars to step it up in this one. 3B Kris Bryant (.292 BA, 39 HR, 102 RBI in 2016) was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts on Sunday night, and the 2016 NL MVP needs to get it going on Tuesday. 1B Anthony Rizzo (.292 BA, 32 HR, 109 RBI in 2016) should be able to have a solid game in this one. In his career against Wainwright, Rizzo is 11-for-36 with a homer and five RBI. It’d be huge if he can go yard on Tuesday. Another guy who has had some success against Wainwright is SS Addison Russell (.238 BA, 21 HR, 95 RBI in 2016). Russell is 4-for-7 with two doubles and two RBI against the righty in his career, and Chicago can use some production from him this week.

The last time Wainwright faced the Cubs at home, the righty pitched 6.2 innings of three-run ball and the Cardinals won 4-3. He’ll certainly be hoping for another start like that one on Tuesday, and the most important thing for him is keeping the ball in the park. He let up far too many homers last year, as he gave up 22 bombs. That is five more than his previous career-worst in 2009. Offensively, it’s hard not to mention OF Randal Grichuk (.240 BA, 24 HR, 68 RBI in 2016). Grichuk was the hero on Sunday night, going 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBI. He delivered the walk-off hit in that game, and he’ll be hoping to stay hot here. St. Louis might also turn to 1B Matt Adams (.249 BA, 16 HR, 54 RBI in 2016) in this one. Adams is 7-for-22 with two doubles and four RBI against Arrieta in his career, so the Cardinals would be wise to give him a look.