Atlanta Braves at Chicago Cubs Betting Preview/Prop Bet
18 April 2021
Atlanta comes into Sunday night with a record of just 6-9, and this has not been a good start for the Braves. This team made it all the way to the NLCS a season ago, and they are a World Series contender again in 2021.
Chicago snapped a three-game losing streak with the win on Saturday, but it’s been a rough start for the Cubs also. The Cubs are just 6-8 on the season and sit in fourth place in the Central Division.
The Atlanta Braves are -105 on the money line in this matchup with the Chicago Cubs.
Braves Bats Need to Wake
Atlanta is hitting just .225 as a team this season, and several of the regular starters have struggled to get the bats going. There is plenty of power in this lineup, but most of the damage has been done by just one player.
Ronald Acuna Jr. has blasted seven home runs and driven in 16 runs to carry the Braves on offense. The Braves need to give their young superstar some more help if they are going to start to turn things around offensively.
Bryse Wilson will make his season debut on the mound for Atlanta, and the Braves need to find a way to slow down an offensive with some momentum.
Contreras Leading Cubs
The Chicago Cubs have plenty of big names in the middle of that lineup, but it has been Willson Contreras leading the charge. Contreras hit a pair of solo home runs on Saturday to get the offense going and has hit a long ball in three straight games.
Chicago actually blasted six home runs in game two of the series, and it appears that this team is starting to turn things around. The Cubs entered Saturday with the worst batting average in baseball, and they were even worse with runners in scoring position.
Kyle Hendricks is expected to make the start on Sunday night after being scratched earlier in the week. Hendricks is 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA, but he is the clear ace of this pitching staff.
Cubs Win Series on Sunday Night
The Cubs have a big advantage in the pitching matchup in the series finale as Hendricks has the ability to completely shut down an opponent. Atlanta is a team that is looking to find some more offense, and doing it against Hendricks is not an easy task.
The Cubs still have to prove that they can be a more consistent offense, but the power was on display on Saturday. Look for this to be the most competitive game of the series, but it will be the Cubs that are able to score just enough to take control.
Bet the Chicago Cubs to win this game by at least two runs over the Atlanta Braves.
Prop Bet
Player To HIt a Home Run: Ronald Acuna Jr (+333)
Acuna Jr has been terrorizing NL pitching since the beginning of the season.
Through the first 15 games, Acuna Jr is 3rd in MLB in batting average (.433), 1st in HRs (7), 2nd in RBI (16), 1st in hits (26), 1st in Slugging (.917) and 1st in OPS (1.409). Those numbers project to a 76-HR, 173-RBI season.
Over the last 7 days, the 23-year-old Venezuelan has 13 hits in 28 at-bats with 4 HRs and 10 RBI. He has been held homerless in the first two games of the series with the Cubs after not facing Chicago at all last year. In the two previous season, Acuna Jr had 3 HRs in 39 at-bats versus Cubs pitching. One of those HRs came off tonight's starter, Kyle Hendricks, in Atlanta's home opener in 2019.
In front of a national TV audience tonight, we'll take Acuna Jr (+333) to continue his flair for the dramatic and wrap up the series in Wrigley with an HR.
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