That lack of a line tracks with how much is still unresolved. Chicago has two more games against Pittsburgh before it even gets to St. Louis, and these two teams open a series of their own two days ahead of this one — plenty of time for either roster to look different by Saturday evening.
St. Louis' stretch run carries more urgency than the scoreboard shows on its own. A stretch of wins against Colorado earlier this month kept the Cardinals within shouting distance of an NL Wild Card spot, with one of the youngest rosters in baseball doing most of the heavy lifting. Chicago, further removed from contention, is living through a rotation crisis in real time — Sean Burke's rough outing against Pittsburgh was just the latest sign that Will Venable is running out of conventional options and leaning on his bullpen to cover the gaps.
Bryan Hudson has quietly become part of the answer for Chicago, opening games out of the bullpen with a 3.03 ERA and 55 strikeouts over 59.1 innings, which buys Venable time to sort out who actually starts games down the stretch. For St. Louis, every game left is one it can't afford to give away cheap, and a patched-together Chicago rotation is exactly the kind of staff a fringe contender needs to beat up on.