MLB Betting Picks: Chicago Cubs at Atlanta Braves

Added on Jul 05, 2012 by Jack Thurman in

MLB

The Chicago Cubs look to win their series with the Atlanta Braves as the two teams tangle today at Turner Field. The Cubs have won 2 of the first 3 games in this set and will be looking to put another win in the books on Thursday. Atlanta is struggling to find some momentum as they’re currently stuck in the middle of the pack in the NL East. Chicago is trying to stay out of the NL Central basement–they currently trail the Houston Astros by 1/2 game.

Chicago Cubs at Atlanta Braves
July 5, 2012 4:10 PM Pacific

The Chicago Cubs are a hard team to get a handle on. Just when it looks like they’re swirling down the toilet and bound for another horrible season they string some wins together. Heading into today’s contest they’ve won 7 of their last 9 games and have almost managed to climb out of last place in the NL East. Initially, we were content to write off much of Chicago’s near term success as a function of their three game home sweep of Houston making things look better than they really are. That doesn’t explain their 4 wins in 6 games against the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves before and after the Astros sweep. Surprisingly, the Cubs are doing it with pitching and defense–they’re still not scoring a lot of runs but in their 7 wins during the aforementioned streak they’ve allowed only 8 runs.

The Atlanta Braves were expected to contend for the NL East title but so far they’ve been decidedly mediocre. They’re currently in third place in the division 6 games back of Washington but that’s as much due to the struggles of Philadelphia and Florida. In recent years the Braves have had a tendency to struggle on the road and play well at home but to date they’ve actually posted a winning record on the road while they’re under .500 at Turner Field. That’s why they’re -8.8 units on their own field.

In this game at least, expect a return to order. The Cubs’ biggest liability this season has been against left handed pitching where they’re 6-17 -11.2 units. Mike Minor hasn’t been particularly impressive this year but the Cubs have managed to make mediocre southpaws look impressive. We expect that to happen today as the Braves win.

Bet Atlanta Braves (Minor) -130 over Chicago Cubs (Garza)