ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The Cardinals are on fire and at a perfect time when the rest of the Cardinals rivals are floundering heading into Memorial Day weekend.
The Cardinals have won eight of their last 10, which has moved the club up to third place in the NL Central, and only two games out of a wild-card spot as the calendar heads into Memorial Day weekend.
While the Cardinals have been on fire, the same can't be said for the rest of their division, with all but the Pittsburgh Pirates having posted below average records in their last 10 games.
One of those said-division opponents will come to St. Louis for Memorial Day Weekend, as the Chicago Cubs, who have only won six of their last 16 since winning a series against the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers in early May.
"(The Cardinals) really picked a good time to start winning," said John Rooney, Voice of the Cardinals on Total Information A.M. Friday. "The team has been winning while the division hasn't been. So that's been a break."
A big key to the Cardinals success has been the hitting, with the lineup posting a weighted run created plus (wRC+) that tied for eighth in baseball with the Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Dodgers in the month of May.
"They are starting to hit and when a team doesn't hit, it doesn't look good," said Rooney. "You want to get off to a good start because you are going to have stretches like what the Cardinals went through and at some point during the season, just like what the Cubs are going through right now and you want that to happen later in the season, not early and that's why I think it looked so bad."
The Cardinals hot streak at the plate will now be tested against a Cubs rotation that has post the seventh-best starters ERA in baseball with a 3.03 ERA. A big part to the Cubs success on the mound has been the rise in Shota Imanaga, whose has had a dazzling 0.84 ERA to begin the season. Imanaga will kick off the series for the Cubs Friday and while Miles Mikolas will go out for the Cardinals, who will debut their City Connect Uniforms Friday night.