Chicago Cubs at San Francisco Giants Betting Preview
The Chicago Cubs (26-36) will go head-to-head with the San Francisco Giants (32-30) in the second of a three-game series on Saturday. The Giants will host this one at Oracle Park, with tipoff scheduled for 7:35 pm ET.
The Cubs were able to take the first game of this series 3-2. In the win, Nico Hoerner had two runs batted in, while Marcus Stroman allowed one run over 6.2 innings.
At the time of this writing, early Saturday morning, the odds for this one have still not been posted.
Cubs Need To Improve On The Road
After starting out the season relatively strong, the Cubs have crashed back to Earth recently. At 27-36, the Cubs sit 6.5 games out of first. Where they really need to improve is on the road, where they are just 12-20 to date.
Trying to pick up another road victory for the Cubs will be veteran righty, Kyle Hendricks. He is still looking for his first win of the season, as he is 0-2 after three starts. In that span, he has a 4.70 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, and he has 12 strikeouts in 15.1 innings of work.
Offensively, Patrick Wisdom still leads the Cubs’ power attack. Despite hitting just .201/.289/.480, he leads the team in home runs (14) and is tied for the lead in runs batted in (28).
One area where the Cubs do need to improve is in the strikeout department. They currently have the sixth-most strikeouts as a team, with 584.
Giants Trying To Stay Competitive In Solid NL West
While the Dodgers will always be a nuisance for NL West teams, it has been the surprising Arizona Diamondbacks that have turned heads.
Coming into play Saturday, the Giants sit in third in the division, six games behind Arizona. With every game mattering for the division, they will try to pick up the win Saturday.
The Giants currently rank 10th in the majors in scoring, averaging 4.63 runs per game. Unfortunately for them, they have scored much better on the road (5.17) than at home (4.13).
Outfielder Michael Conforto has been a nice pickup for the Giants. In 182 at bats, he is hitting .247/.347/.462 with a team-leading 12 home runs. He also has 31 runs batted in and 34 runs scored.
On the mound for the Giants, Saturday will be 33-year-old righty John Brebbia. In 26 games this season, the reliever is 2-0 with a 3.65 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and he has 33 strikeouts in 24.2 innings. He will likely be working as an opener in this one.
Take The Cubs To Win Saturday
Looking at the trends, the Cubs are 1-4 in their last five games and 4-11 in their last 15 against the Giants. In their last nine games against National League teams, they are 3-6.
For the Giants, they are 4-2 in their last six games, but they are 1-5 in their last six home games. Against National League teams, they are 12-5 in their last 17 games.
With Brebbia on the mound, it means that the Giants are opting for a bullpen game in this one. Coming into play Sunday, the Giants rank 16th in bullpen ERA at 4.02.
While Kyle Hendricks is no longer the clearcut top-of-the-rotation arm he used to be, the veteran is savvy enough to minimize the damage and give the Cubs a great opportunity to secure the series win.
Take Chicago to win this one straight up.
