For the second week in a row, Sunday Night Baseball descends upon the friendly confines of Wrigley Field in Chicago for the finale of the weekend series between the Brewers and the Cubs. The teams have split the first two games of the series and are looking to win the series. The moneyline for this contest is Cubs -135.
Brewers Look to Start a New Streak
The Milwaukee Brewers had won seven games in a row prior to Saturday’s 15-inning, walk-off loss. They amassed that streak by scoring runs. Milwaukee had scored five or more runs in each of their last five games. Jhoulys Chacin will take the ball for the Brew Crew, coming off a no-decision in his previous start against Washington, where he gave up two runs on three hits in five innings.
In his career against the Cubs, Chacin is 4-6 in 12 career starts. On the season, he is 3-3 with a 5.03 ERA in 39.1 innings. The Brewers have the 6th best bullpen ERA in the National League at 3.96. The bullpen is led by Josh Hader, who has struck out an insane 41 batters in only 19.1 innings. He has 10 saves on the season.
Offensively, Milwaukee is led by 2018 NL MVP, Christian Yelich. He has picked up right where he left off, hitting .341, with 16 home runs and 37 RBI. Yelich’s batting average is good for third in the NL, his home run total leads the NL, and his RBI total is second in the NL. The Brewers are fifth in the National League with 198 runs scored in 41 games. One item of note: Ryan Braun’s status for Sunday night’s game is in limbo because of a sore hamstring.
Cubs Continue to Roll
The Chicago Cubs lead the National League Central over the Brewers by one game after their walk-off win against the Brewers on Saturday. The walk-off victory was the third in five games for the Cubs. Chicago has won 11 of its last 13 games and has done so against their biggest rivals in the NL Central: the Brewers and Cardinals.
Toeing the rubber for the Cubs will be Jon Lester, who has allowed just one run in his last 18 innings since returning from a hamstring injury. In his career against Milwaukee, he is 4-3 in eight career starts. For the season, he is 2-1 with a 1.41 ERA.
Offensively, the Cubs are led by shortstop Javier Baez. He is hitting .316 with 11 home runs and 28 RBI. The Cubs are sharing the wealth as far as run production goes, with four players with at least 23 RBI. The Cubs sport the fifth-best team batting average in the National League at .254. They have scored the third-most runs in the NL with 202 tallies in 37 games.
Prediction Time
As hot as Jon Lester has been, it’s hard to pick against him. He has had success against the Brewers in the past as well, so I am going to pick the Cubs in this one.
