We’re three days into September, meaning the MLB regular season winds down as the playoff race becomes even more solid. On Wednesday night, the Chicago Cubs (80-59) host the Atlanta Braves (62-77) for the final game of a three-leg series at Wrigley Field.
Here’s a Cubs vs. Braves prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook for Wednesday’s game.
Cubs vs. Braves prediction, preview
It’s a tale of two teams tonight as the Cubs keep marching toward an NL Wild Card spot while the Braves remain on the outside of the postseason picture gazing longingly through the glass. While Chicago saw its fair share of struggles last month with a serious slump from many of the lineup’s main contributors, they’re rebounding at the right time with a 6-4 record across their last 10 games as the stars begin to round back into form. Unfortunately, Kyle Tucker may not play on Wednesday after a calf issue removed him from last night’s game, but the rest of the Cubbies should be good to go as Cade Horton (2.92 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 81 SO) takes the mound.
It’s a battle between a couple of somewhat underperforming offenses though, with the Cubs ranking 17th in average (.246) and 13th in OPS (.753) with the 13th-most runs scored (63) over the last two weeks. On the other side, the Braves fall 25th in average (.234), 24th in OPS (.682) and 20th in scoring (57 runs) over the same sample. In particular, Atlanta sees Ronald Acuna Jr. in a serious rut with just one hit over his last seven contests, so he’ll need to turn things around for this team to really have a shot tonight.
For the Braves, Bryce Elder (5.85 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, 99 SO) gets the starting nod against Chicago. He’s never quite returned to the form of his rookie season in 2023 and posts a fifth-percentile grade in pitching run value as well as bottom-quartile scores in a range of metrics such as fastball velocity, whiff percentage, strikeout percentage, hard-hit percentage and extension. The Cubs could feast this evening given the matchup.
Cubs vs. Braves pick, best bet
DraftKings Sportsbook lists the Cubs as -157 favorites on the Moneyline tonight while the Braves come in at +124 to win outright. The run total sits at eight.
This matchup doesn’t exactly feel like a premier one, especially with Tucker’s status in question and Acuna Jr. playing so poorly. The Braves have just about punted on their season and are far out of the Wild Card race at 12.5 games back, though the Cubs are five games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for the NL Central lead with an outside shot of catching up. This might be one in which Atlanta rolls over against a Chicago squad with something left to play for, especially after the Cubs won the first two games of this series with finishes of 7-6 and 4-3.
Granted, both of those were close contests in which these teams were separated by just one hit and one run in each. Still, Elder has truly struggled this season and will have his work cut out for him in trying to maintain the form of his two most recent starts in which he allowed just six total hits and three earned runs. The Cubs are a strong lineup, even when things aren’t quite clicking as they were in the early season, and they did hit .261 as a team with a .755 OPS in their last two meetings of this series. All things considered, Chicago can cover the run line and blow this game open against a poor starter.
Best bet: CHI Cubs -1.5 (+140)
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