Saturday night baseball and we will see the Kansas City Royals take on the Chicago Cubs at at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. Free Pick to follow. First pitch is scheduled for a 7:15 PM (Eastern) start time and the game will be televised on FOX.
Betting Odds
Kansas City -110
Chicago +100
Over/ Under: 6.5 U -130
This is game 2 of a 4 game series between these Interleague foes. The Kansas City Royals took game 1 of this series yesterday by an 8-4 score. The win snapped a 4 game losing streak for the Royals and also put them back into first place in the AL Central by 1 game over the Minnesota Twins. The Cubs have now lost 4 of their last 5 games and are in second place in the NL Central.
The Royals rank 2nd in scoring (4.74 rpg), 1st in hitting (.282) and 25th in homers (37), while on the mound they are 6th in ERA (3.53) and 7th in WHIP (1.22). The Royals are 10-3 in their last 13 interleague road games and 23-9 in their last 32 when their opponent allows 5 runs or more in their previous game, plus 9-2 in Ventura's last 11 starts with 5 days of rest.
Chicago ranks 19th in scoring (4.11 rpg), 23rd in hitting (.240) and 13th in homers (48), while on the mound they are 11th in ERA (3.73) and 5th in WHIP (1.20). Chicago has gone 9-4 in their last 13 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600, but just 1-6 in Wada's last 7 starts and 0-6 in his last 6 starts vs. a team with a winning record.
Getting the ball for Royals tonight will be Yordano Ventura, who is just 3-4 with a 4.64 ERA on the year overall, while on the road he has gone 1-2 with a 5.23 ERA in 5 starts. This will be his first meeting with the Cubs.
Taking the hill for Chicago tonight will be Tsuyoshi Wada, who has gone 0-0 with a 2.70 ERA in 2 starts his year. Wada is 4-1 with a 2.77 ERA in 9 career starts at Wrigley and has never faced the Royals.
Pick: Going with the Royals to take this one. Wada was strong in his first outing this year, but that was vs a struggling San Diego offense and now he must face the 2nd best scoring offense in the league. I can see him struggling in this game. The Offense for Chicago is struggling right now and I look for them to struggle once again as Kansas City takes game 2 of this series.
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Buy/Sell: Bet Against Chicago Cubs' Jon Lester
As handicapper Teddy Covers point out, there was a bidding war for pitcher Jon Lester between the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox, but pro bettor Steve Fezzik still thinks Lester is massively overrated, as are the Cubs in general. Teddy thinks Lester is still passing the eye test for the top GM's in baseball, but Fezzik points out that Lester has never gotten a hit in 56 at-bats. With a pitcher who can't score in the National League, his batting is a big liability and, at 31 years old, he is getting old and Fezzik looks to fade him eery start he makes.