Thursday night features a battle of NL Central versus West as the Chicago Cubs (3-2) take on the Colorado Rockies (4-1). The Rockies will host this four-game series at Coors Field, with Thursday’s matchup scheduled for 8:40 pm ET.
The Cubs currently sit in second in the NL Central after winning their opening series against the Milwaukee Brewers and splitting a two-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates. On Wednesday, the Pirates dropped their game 6-2 to the Pirates.
In the loss, Cubs’ ace Kyle Hendricks was roughed up, giving up six runs in 3.2 innings. Wilson Contreras went two for four in the loss with a home run.
Surprisingly, the Colorado Rockies have come out of the gates strong, taking two of three from the Dodgers in their opening series and sweeping a two-game series from the Rangers. On Tuesday, the Rockies took down the Rangers 4-1 on the road.
Connor Joe went one for three in the win with two walks and three runs scored. Charlie Blackmon added two hits in the win.
The Rockies are the slight favorites playing at home Thursday. They are -134 to win while the Cubs’ moneyline sits at +114. The runline features Chicago +1.5 (-164), and the over/under for total runs is 11.5.
Pitching Matchup
This game will feature a pair of southpaws toeing the rubber as the Cubs’ Justin Steele takes on the Rockies’ Kyle Freeland.
Steele picked up the win in his first outing against the Brewers, going five innings, allowing no earned runs, and striking out five.
Freeland is responsible for the Rockies’ lone loss of the season. Against the Dodgers, he went just 3.2 innings, allowing five earned runs on five hits and two walks. He did strike out six in the defeat.
Cubs’ Bats Look To Take Advantage Of Colorado Air
Chicago has gotten off to a relatively strong start, and part of it has been due to an offense that currently ranks in the top ten in scoring. Although a small sample size, the Cubs rank eighth, averaging five runs per game. They hope to take advantage of Colorado’s thin air to put up big numbers Thursday.
While the Cubs lost much of their star power last season at the trade deadline, general manager Jed Hoyer couldn’t be more excited by the early results of free agent acquisition Seiya Suzuki. In 15 at bats, he is hitting .400/.524/1.000 with a team-leading three home runs and nine runs batted in.
Ian Happ has also been strong early on, hitting .538 in 13 at bats with four runs batted in and three runs scored.
Familiar Face Looks To Take Down Cubs
Last season saw the Cubs trade away some marquee names, and one of them signed this season with the Rockies. After seven years with the Cubs, Bryant was traded to the San Francisco Giants at last year’s trade deadline.
This offseason, he signed a massive seven-year contract worth $182 million with the Rockies. The former Cub will look to take down his old squad starting on Thursday. To start the season, Bryant has hit .350/.391/.500 with two runs batted in and four runs scored.
Albeit limited at bats, several players on the Rockies have hits off of the Cubs’ Jordan Steele, including Brendan Rodgers, who has taken the lefty deep.
Take The Cubs +1.5
While the Rockies have gotten off to a great start through the first week of the season, it remains to be seen whether they can sustain their success. The Cubs are in a similar boat, making this a game that could truly go either way.
Colorado is 4-1 in their last five home games, while the Cubs are 5-2 in their last seven against the National League.
Interestingly, the last six times the Cubs have played at Colorado, the under has hit four of those games. With the total set at 11.5, there is a good chance that could happen again Thursday.
Take the under and take the Cubs on the runline +1.5.
