Today’s MLB Picks: Brewers vs. Cubs

Milwaukee Brewers (7-9) vs. Chicago Cubs (12-3), 8/15/20

Listed Pitchers: Adrian Houser (1-1, 2.65) vs. Colin Rea (0-0, 0.00)

Time: 3:20 pm ET Saturday, Aug. 15

Where: Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL

TV: FS Wisconsin

Moneyline: Brewers -105/Cubs -105 (Get these lines – You’ll be so glad you switched! Save $$$!)

Over/Under: 8.5

After splitting the first two games of this four-game NL Central rivalry series, the Brewers and Cubs meet again Saturday afternoon at the Friendly Confines. These two teams have played a whole bunch of low-scoring games over the last few seasons, and the first two games of this series played out along similar lines. How are we playing this game with our free MLB pick?

MLB Betting Odds

Saturday’s MLB betting odds opened the Cubs and Colin Rea at around -110 over Milwaukee and Adrian Houser, with an over/under of 8.5. Those figures were holding steady in early betting action. Chicago could also be found getting upwards of +145, giving the run and a half on the MLB run line.

Brewers vs. Cubs Set-Up

Chicago took the opener of this series Thursday night 4-2, but Milwaukee grabbed Friday night’s game 4-3. The Brewers trailed the Cubs Friday 3-1 through five innings, but Christian Yelich banged a three-run homer in the top of the sixth, and the Milwaukee bullpen hung on from there for the W.

The Cubs won as –170 favorites with Yu Darvish on the MLB betting odds Thursday while the Brew Crew won as -125 favorites Friday.

Also, both games in this series have played under their totals, continuing a trend among Brewers-Cubs games that goes back over the last couple of seasons.

With Friday’s victory, Milwaukee is 3-3 over its last six games.

Meanwhile, Friday’s loss snapped a three-game winning streak for Chicago.

At 13-4 overall, the Cubs lead the NL Central by five games over second-place St. Louis, and they’re a game up on the Dodgers in the battle for the best record in the National League.

At 8-10 overall, the Brewers trail division-leading Chicago by 5.5 games in the NL Central, but they’re only a half-game behind the second-place Cardinals, and second place makes the playoffs this season.

Last year Milwaukee took the season series from Chicago 10 games to nine.

This game was initially slated to start at 7:15 Chicago time but was moved up to avoid some bad weather headed into the area.

On the personnel front, Chicago IF and Brewer killer Kris Bryant have missed recent action with a sore wrist, and he’s listed as questionable for Saturday’s game.

Saturday’s Starting Arms

Rea is making his first ML start since 2016. The right-hander won seven games for San Diego back in 2015-16, then hurt his arm and underwent Tommy John surgery. Last year, trying to get back to the Majors, he went 14-4 with a 3.95 ERA for the Cubs’ Triple-A outfit down at Iowa.

Most recently, Rea tossed two scoreless innings of relief Tuesday against Cleveland, and on the season he’s thrown three scoreless innings, with three strikeouts against zero walks.

This will be Rea’s first-ever appearance against Milwaukee, which could give him an edge, at least for the first couple of times through the lineup.

Houser is 1/3 on quality starts this season. Monday, he gave up four runs on six hits through five innings of a 4-2 Brewers loss to Minnesota. But just before that, he tossed seven innings of shut-out ball in a 1-0 Milwaukee victory over the White Sox.

On the season, Houser has allowed five runs and 12 hits through 17 innings, with six walks and 13 strikeouts. The Brewers are 2-1 with him this year.

Over two starts last year against the Cubs Houser allowed seven runs and 13 hits through nine innings. Milwaukee split those two games.

Saturday’s Batting Splits

Milwaukee is batting just .205 this season against right-handed pitching, with a .286 team OBP and a .342 team slugging percentage. The Brewers have also been held to three runs or less seven times over their last 11 games.

Chicago is batting .242 against RH pitching this season, with a .331 OBP and a .439 slugging percentage.

MLB Betting Trends

• Milwaukee is 6-4 on the road this season.
• Chicago is 8-2 at home this season.
• Milwaukee is 5-8 vs. right-handed starters this season.
• Chicago is 8-4 vs. RH starters this season.

Totals Report

• Unders are 9-8 in Brewers games this season.
• Unders are 9-8 in Cubs games this season.
• Unders played 12-6 in Brewers-Cubs games last season, 7-1 at Wrigley Field.
• Unders are 7-3 in games played at Wrigley Field this season.

Free MLB Pick

Milwaukee owns the edge in the pitching match-up here, but Chicago holds an advantage with the sticks. So we’re not sure who’s going to win this game. However, these two teams have played a bunch of low-scoring games in their rivalry over recent seasons, and we foresee another one of those for Saturday afternoon. So we’re playing the under in this game for our free MLB pick for Saturday. Bet your Brewers/Cubs pick FREE by depositing $100 at MyBookie and they’ll give you an extra $100 just for trying them out! Must use this link to sign up and use promo code PREDICT100.