This has given the Cardinals a 2 1/2-game lead on the Cubs heading into Busch, and on Friday, they face a Triple-A pitcher in Eddie Butler, with Leake, their current ace. This is the first time in the new era of the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry, the world in which Chicago has a World Series championship (it still seems amazing to say that!) and St. Louis is trying to catch up, that the Cardinals have the upper hand. Good reasoning. To be fair, Leake inexplicably is pitching like an ace all of a sudden, or at least has an ERA like one