The Arizona Diamondbacks wrap up their home series against the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday looking for young starting pitcher Brandon Pfaadt to continue the success he’s had since the end of the 2022 season.
Chicago Cubs vs. Arizona Diamondbacks (-115, 9.5)
Pfaadt is coming off of a pair of rough starts against the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals in which he allowed a combined 11 runs in 11 2/3 innings after a string of seven straight starts from the end of the 2023 season through the postseason and the start of the 2024 season in which he allowed three runs or fewer.
Between the regular season and postseason, from when Pfaadt got hurt and recalled from the minor leagues until this recent two-start rough patch, Pfaadt posted a 3.88 ERA across 19 appearances with just under two walks per nine innings issued.
On the other side of the starting pitching matchup, Jordan Wicks has yet to complete five innings for the Cubs in his three starts this season, posting a 5.68 ERA with 13.5 strikeouts and 5.7 walks per nine innings allowed.
With Wicks’ inability to go deep into games, it exposes a Cubs bullpen that entered Tuesday 21st in the league with a 4.75 ERA while the Diamondbacks entered 14th with a 3.83 ERA to support an offense that has started the season hot.
The Diamondbacks entered Tuesday ranked seventh in the league in scoring with 5.35 runs per game, which climbs to more than 5.7 runs per game at home.
While the Cubs are eighth with 5.3 runs per game, their scoring when away from home has the largest dip of any team in baseball, averaging over 7.3 runs per game at home compared to 4.1 runs per game away from home with a National League-worst .208 road batting average entering Tuesday.
With Wicks not lending length in his starts for the Cubs and the team’s offensive struggles away from home, the Diamondbacks will get a home win on Wednesday.
The Play: Diamondbacks -115
See which team DraftKings bettors are backing.
