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Free MLB Pick: Giants vs Cubs Odds
Looking for San Francisco Giants vs. Chicago Cubs free picks? MLB betting sees the Giants taking on the Cubs on Friday, October 7th at Wrigley Field in Game 1 of the NLDS. Cappers Picks provides complimentary expert handicapping picks on all MLB baseball matchups all season long so stay tuned for more FREE daily MLB predictions.
(87-75) San Francisco Giants vs. Chicago Cubs (103-58)
2016 NLDS: Game 1
Date: Friday October 7, 2016
Time: 9:00 PM ET
Venue: Wrigley Field in Chicago, IL
Projected Pitchers: Johnny Cueto vs. Jon Lester
MLB Moneyline Odds: Chicago -176
MLB RunLine Betting Odds: Off
MLB Betting Total: 6.5
Live MLB Odds
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The Cubs now can prove that this regular season dominance was no fluke. They get the “even year” Giants coming off an emotional win over the Mets in New York.
It will be Lester vs. Cueto in Game 1 and both pitchers have been pitching great as of late.
San Francisco Giants
The reason that the Giants nearly missed the playoffs was their bullpen and their hitting. While neither of those played a factor in beating the Mets, they now get a potential 5 game series with the Cubs to sort both of those out.
The hope for the Giants is that Cueto will be able to limit the reliability on the bullpen by stretching out a long start.
However, the Cubs lineup is more likely to wear Cueto down than the Mets did to Madison Bumgarner in the Wild Card game.
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The Giants lineup does have a lot of veteran hitters that will hopefully be able to get a spark at the plate.
Hunter Pence, Denard Span, Angel Pagan, and Buster Posey have all been parts of team wide and individual slumps so they will be relied upon to lead this group back to their early season form.
Cueto started off the season great and then slowed down a bit during the middle part of the season. However, he has come on strong in September with a 4-0 record and 1.78 ERA in 5 starts.
One of those starts was 7 innings of 5 hit and 1 run ball against the Cubs that the Cubs ended up winning in 13 innings.
Cueto will need to win this game on the road for the Giants to have a shot as Bumgarner won’t be able to go until Game 3 and that matchup will be with Jake Arrieta.
If the Cubs lineup gets hot in Game 1, this will be a very short series. However, if Cueto is able to neutralize all of their great hitters, they could be stumbling into Game 2 and on their way to an early exit.
Chicago Cubs
Jon Lester will get the nod over both Arrieta and Kyle Hendricks and it makes plenty of sense.
Lester has plenty of playoff experience and was the best pitcher in baseball after the All-Star break.
Lester was 5-0 in September with 0.48 ERA. That followed up his August where he was 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA.
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While the Giants lineup has been struggling, they have veteran hitters that have faced Lester and have playoff experience.
They are also coming off a highly emotional Wild Card win and enter this game with all sorts of momentum.
Joe Maddon is a shrewd manager who will be interesting to watch in his dual with equally shrewd Giants manager Bruce Bochy.
A thing to watch in this game is Lester’s inability to hold runners on so you can imagine the Giants will be running when they get on.
This group of young Cubs hitters now has the experience of the spotlight from last season and will be poised to get deeper into the postseason than they did last season.
Cueto will have his hands full start to finish but the key will be the top 2 hitters in the lineup. Cueto allowed 1 and 2 hitters in the lineup to hit .309 against him this season.
That likely will be Dexter Fowler and Kris Bryant and they could do a lot of damage.
Following that up with in some order Ben Zobrist, Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Jason Heyward, and Jorge Soler makes this lineup terrifying.
The key for the Cubs will be getting on Cueto early and getting to that weak San Francisco bullpen.
MLB Baseball Betting Trends:
- The Cubs were 4-3 against the Giants this season
- The games averaged 5.7 totals runs in the 7 matchups
- Lester was 13-0 with a 2.09 ERA in night games this season
- Lester was 10-2 with a 1.74 ERA at home this season.
Free San Francisco Giants vs. Chicago Cubs MLB Prediction:
Lester and the Cubs lineup have the upper hand in both matchups in this game. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Giants lineup is neutralized similarly to the game against the Mets.
So, I expect the Cubs to win in a low scoring matchup.
4* Free MLB Betting Pick: Cubs -176 and Under 6.5
It is a 5 game series but this game will determine the outcome of the series.
If the Cubs lineup gets going, it won’t matter who the Giants put on the mound. If the Giants break their slump, they could outhit the Cubs on their way into the NLCS.
MLB Free Score Prediction: Chicago Cubs 4-1
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