Cincinnati Reds vs. Chicago Cubs Betting Preview & Picks

The Cincinnati Reds will travel to Wrigley Field to take on the Chicago Cubs for a three games series starting Tuesday night at 8:05 p.m. Game two and three will be played at the same time on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Reds and Cubs have had similar seasons with both teams being at the bottom of the NL Central division. Chicago is just ahead of the Reds with a record of 28-45, 13 games back from the first place Milwaukee Brewers. The Reds are 25-47 and 15.5 games back from first place.

Both teams have been struggling recently, but the Reds have only won two out of their last ten games. The Cubs have split their past ten matchups with a record of 5-5.

Let’s look ahead at this divisional matchup between the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago Cubs.

Expected Odds

The Cubs (-115 ML) are favorites in this one while the Reds (+100) are even money underdogs. I would expect, generally throughout the series, that the Cubs will be more favored than the Reds, but it will also depend on the pitching matchups between the two teams.

With the way the Reds have been playing lately, it will be tough to back them. They are 13-24 away from home which includes two wins on the road in the past series to the San Francisco Giants to win that series. The Cubs are 13-25 at home which is shockingly bad for playing in front of your home crowd.

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Expected Pitching Matchup

Luis Castillo is expected to take the mound for the Reds and he will take on right-hander Keegan Thompson from the Cubs. Castillo is 2-4 on the season but only has a 3.71 ERA and accrued 49 strikeouts. Thompson is 7-2 with a 3.10 ERA and 55 strikeouts.

Castillo went five innings giving up four runs on five hits in his no decision last week against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He walked three and struck out six in that outing. Thompson got the win at Pittsburgh last week where he limited the Pirates to one run on four hits. He struck out seven and only allowed one walk.

Reds vs. Cubs Betting Pick

As stated before, I would give the edge to the Cubs in being favored in most of this series, but it will depend heavily on the pitching to determine who will win. Thompson is the relatively clear choice as the better pitcher but Castillo does have a comparable ERA.

With all of that being said, I still am pulling for the Reds to win this game outright. The Reds are coming off a big road win at the Giants, even though they are 2-8 in their last ten. I like the Reds to take this series on the road and win two out of the three games.

The pitching matchups will make these games hard to decide, but I’m going with the Reds for games one and three of the series.