Blue Jays vs. Cubs Pick
Are the heavily favored Chicago Cubs too much for the visiting Toronto Blue Jays to handle Saturday afternoon? First pitch is at 2:20PM EST.
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, the Cubs are a -240 favorite to win. The Blue Jays are a +205 underdog, while the over-under is set at 9.
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Nick Tepesch (1-2, 5.25 ERA) draws the start for the Blue Jays, while Jose Quintana (7-10, 4.33). Tepesch has made two starts since being acquired from Minnesota earlier this season. He has allowed six runs on 12 hits over 10 1/3 innings, while strking out four and walking one. He was effective in his last start versus Tampa Bay as he earned the win, giving up one run on four hits over six innings in a 2-1 victory. He did not strike out a batter. Quintana has made six starts for the Cubs since he was acquired in a trade with the White Sox. Only only of those starts can be classified as poor, an outing where he gave up six earned runs in five innings against Arizona. He’s coming off a start where he allowed two runs (one earned) over fve innings in a 15-5 win over the Reds, striking out four and walking four. The Cubs are 3-3 in his six starts.
Toronto enters with a 59-63 record and is 25-34 on the road, while Chicago is 64-57 and 32-28 at home. The Cubs won the opener of the three-game series Friday by a score of 7-4.
Jake Arrieta pitched 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball to earn the victory in the series opener, while Javier Baez hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning after Toronto had cut it to a one-run game in the top half. Victor Caratini was 3-for-3 with a double and a run for the Cubs, while Albert Almora was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Ben Zobrist was 1-for-3 with a double and a run. Justin Smoak, Steve Pearce, Miguel Montero and Kevin Pillar had two hits apiece for Toronto.
The Cubs have too much in their favor to fade them here. Consider the runline or the over-under if the juice is too much to handle.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: CHICAGO CUBS -240