The Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees will play the final game of their three-game series Sunday afternoon. This is also the final game of the first half of the season for both teams. The Cubs won the first game of the series, and then the Yankees bounced back with a win on Saturday.
The win for the Yankees pushed them to 49-41 on the season. New York is tied with Toronto for third place in the American League East. For the Cubs, their loss dropped them to 41-47. The Cubs are in third place in the National League Central despite their positive run differential.
The New York Yankees are the favorites in this game. You can bet the Yankees at -145 over tje Cubs. The total for this game is listed at 8.5.
Pitching Matchup
The Cubs will send Kyle Hendricks to the mound in this one. After missing a chunk of the season early, he has come back and been solid. Hendricks is 3-3 on the season with a 2.64 earned run average. Hendricks is coming off an outing against the Brewers on July 4th, where he allowed just 1 earned run over 6 innings at Milwaukee.
Domingo German will throw for the Yankees. German is known for his perfect game earlier in the season against Oakland. But, overall, this season, he is 5-5 with a 4.52 earned run average. The 30-year-old has struck out 83 batters while walking just 25 on the season.
Offensive Matchup
The Cubs have seen several guys come through offensively this season. Chicago is without their starting shortstop Dansby Swanson, as he went on the injured list. In his place, Nico Hoerner and Christopher Morel are trying to lead the way. Hoerner is hitting .274, while Morel has 15 home runs and a .273 average. The Cubs picked up just 5 hits in the loss on Saturday. 2 of the hits came from Miles Mastrobuoni, who returned to the team on July 8th after three weeks in minor leagues.
In the win on Saturday, Giancarlo Stanton hit two home runs. Stanton is trying to pick up the slack for the Yankees playing without their top slugger Aaron Judge. The slugger has just 8 home runs this season, while Josh Donaldson has 10. Despite missing a large portion of the season, Judge leads the team still with 19 home runs and 40 runs batted in. New York is in the bottom half of runs scored this season and also has the third-worst batting average in all of baseball.
Yankees Win Game; Win Series
The New York Yankees need the win, and they are going to get it. After a tough Thursday and Friday for New York, it appears the Yankees will get back on track and win their final two of the series. The first half will come to an end with New York in a spot to contend for a playoff spot. Bet the Yankees -145 over the Cubs on Sunday.
