NL Central Total of the Year - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #905 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in St Louis Cardinals vs Chicago Cubs @ 7:15 ET - This is a contrarian play as you can see from the recent run of shutout innings for Kwang Hyun Kim. Being a contrarian has been a key for me through the years and I am sensing struggles for Kim in this one. For one thing, these lineups have faced these starting pitchers already as the Cubs have faced Kim and the Cardinals have faced Adbert Alzolay. Adding to the value here is the fact that Kim has nearly as many walks as strikeouts over his last 4 starts. Not only is Kim not a strikeout pitcher, he has walked 11 in his last 4 home starts. In his most recent one he did give up a lot of hard hit balls plus only struck out 1 batter. I think it is all catching up with Kim and that the Cubs will get to him early and often in this one. Yesterday ended up being a low-scoring Cardinals win but the teams did combine for 20 hits! I expect the Cards to get to Alzolay early and often. The Chicago right-hander is 1-6 with a 4.89 ERA in road starts this season. The O/U was on a 5-2 run in meetings between these teams before yesterday's under. The Cubs entered yesterday's game having been shutout once in last 7 games but averaging 5.5 runs per game in the other 6 games. The Cardinals have averaged 5.7 runs their last 3 games. Both teams have more success than most are expecting in this one Thursday. Based on the opening total and what I am seeing with line movement, the sharp money will be on the over in this match-up. 10* OVER the total in St Louis