The Cincinnati Reds visit Wrigley Field on Thursday night, where they will take on the Chicago Cubs. The first pitch will be at 7:05 pm central. These two teams are on opposite sides of the same division. The visiting Reds sit in last place in the National League Central division, with their 56-71 record. They are virtually out of the postseason picture, as they are seventeen games behind the Cubs and six and a half games behind the Pirates, the fourth place. Meanwhile, the Cubs seem destined to contend once again. With their 72-53 record, they are atop the same division. The closest team is St. Louis, who is in a dogfight with the Milwaukee Brewers for second place, and a likely National League Wild Card spot. They are 2 and half games behind the Cubs, and one-half game ahead of the Brewers, a spot that has flipped back and forth as of late. The Cubs are heavily favored in this contest: at -215.
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Pitching Matchup
Anthony DeSclafani will be on the mound for Cincinnati. The right-hander has been having a pretty successful year thus far. His record stands at 6-3, and he has a 4.12 ERA. He seems to be performing well in spite of his team, although his ERA would suggest he relies on a good level of run support en route to his victories. However, throughout his last three starts, he has given up only two runs. The Cubs will have Cole Hamels on the mound. During the past four games, Hamels pitched 25 innings, and gave up only 2 runs. As it stands, he is 8-9 on the season, and owns a 4.00 ERA. However, his ERA as a Cub is 0.72, and he is 3-0 while wearing a Cub uniform. He has also historically dominated Cincinnati, having gone 10-1 with a 1.93 ERA during his career. However, he hasn’t faced them for two years.
Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati is not without good, consistent hitting. In fact, they have four men hitting above .250, and one batting .246. Scooter Gennett is leading the way, with a great .310 average. He also has driven in 75 runs. Eugenio Suarez has also been crushing the ball. On top of his .297 average, Suarez has driven in 92 runs. He also has 28 home runs.
Chicago Cubs
Despite not having at least 3.1 plate appearances per game, Ben Zobrist is leading the Cubs in batting average, with a .304 number. Javier Baez, however, is the technical leader in nearly every category. He is hitting .292, has driven in 92 runs, and has 26 home runs. Even if these two don’t contribute, the Cubs have plenty of options in their deep batting order.
Cubs Top Reds
Cincinnati, on paper, looks like they should at least be a .500 team. However, they seem to consistently underachieve and find themselves in the basement. Because of that, it is easy to side with the heavily favored Cubs, although Cardinal and Brewer fans can hope for the adverse conclusion. Bet on the Chicago Cubs at -215.
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- Bet on the Cincinnati Reds +175
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