MLB Betting Free Picks: Philadelphia @ Chicago
Added on Jul 15, 2010 by Jack Thurman in
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The All Star Break is over and the sports betting world will come back to live beginning with Thursday’s baseball betting card. We’ll take a look at a National League game between the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies. Chicago starts the second half of the season in third place in the NL Central 9.5 games behind Cincinnati, while Philadelphia is in third place in the NL East 4.5 games back of Atlanta.
Philadelphia Phillies (Moyer) at Chicago Cubs (Dempster)
July 15, 5:05 PM Pacific
Phillies got a little bit of momentum going before the break, winning 4 straight and 6 of their last 10. Cubs, on the other hand, are still treading water with a 5-5 mark in their last 10 games and a ho-hum 20-23 record at home. As we’ve discussed in the past, the Cubs are always overvalued at home–this season they’ve lost nearly -14 units for their financial backers at Wriggly Field. Since 1997, they’re a mind boggling -130 units at home despite a W/L record 52 games over .500!
Jamie Moyer’s YTD numbers aren’t particularly impressive but they never are–he’s the classic ‘junk ball’ pitcher. Ryan Dempster has a better ERA, but the Cubs have lost 11 of his 18 starts and 5 of 8 at home. Of particular note is the Phillies historical dominance of the head to head matchup–Philadelphia has won 10 of the last 15 meetings and 5 of 8 in Chicago. Phillies still have a realistic look at the postseason while Chicago needs a miracle to get back in contention with Cincinnati and St. Louis. Phillies get the second half of the season off to a good start, and we get a nice underdog price.
Bet Philadelphia (Moyer) +120 over Chicago (Dempster)
