Monday’s MLB schedule includes an interleague series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Chicago Cubs. At home, the Blue Jays are heavy favorites with a -245 moneyline compared to Chicago’s moneyline of +195. The over/under for the game is set at 9.5 runs.
Only a few days ago, the Blue Jays were among the hottest teams in baseball, winning seven of eight games. However, that came to a swift and abrupt end over the weekend when they got swept by the Angels at home. Nevertheless, Toronto is still ten games over .500 on the season but with the team’s lead in the Wild Card race down to 1.5 games.
As for the Cubs, they are just 3-6 over the last week, continuing their sluggish season. For what it’s worth, Chicago is comfortably in third place in the NL Central, staying ahead of the Reds and Pirates. The Cubs are also 6-4 over their last ten road games.
New Kid on the Block
The Cubs will send Javier Assad to the mound on Monday for just the second start in his big league career. Assad started last week against the Cardinals, tossing four scoreless innings despite giving up four hits and four walks.
Before being promoted, he was rocking a 2.66 ERA in the minors this season, so a little beginner’s luck from Assad isn’t a huge surprise.
Meanwhile, the Chicago lineup has been wildly inconsistent lately. In their last nine games, the Cubs have been shut out twice and scored two runs or less on four occasions, although they’ve also scored seven runs twice in their last five games, including Sunday’s loss to the Brewers.
At the moment, the bottom half of Chicago’s lineup has struggled, although Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki continue to make an impact.
The Fake Ace
Jose Berrios will make his 26th start of the season on Monday, as he’s still hoping to put everything together for the stretch run. In his first 25 starts, Berrios is 9-5 with a disappointing 5.28 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP despite expectations that he would be Toronto’s ace this season.
Berrios showed improvement in July but has fallen on hard times again in August, pitching to a 7.08 ERA over his last four starts.
Likewise, Toronto’s offense has completely disappeared, as the Blue Jays were scoreless on both Friday and Saturday against the Angels. They’ve also scored three runs or less in five of their last seven games, going cold at the wrong time of year.
The good news is that George Springer and Bo Bichette are both red-hot despite a team-wide slump that has seen the powerful Blue Jays hit just two home runs in their last six games.
Underdog Value
With the Blue Jays losing three in a row amidst offensive struggles and Berrios not providing much assurance this season, Toronto is an untrustworthy favorite in Monday’s game.
Granted, the Cubs haven’t shown a lot of promise this season, although Assad might be able to build off of his last start and contain a sluggish Toronto lineup. That means the Cubs are worth betting on as an underdog in Monday’s game.
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