San Diego Padres at Chicago Cubs Betting Preview/Prop Picks

The San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs will begin a three-game series on Monday night at Wrigley Field. This series will feature two teams heading in opposite directions, and it's not a good matchup for the home team. 

San Diego comes into this series with an overall record of 37-24, and they find themselves in second place in the NL West Division. The Padres have lost their previous two games, but a trip to Chicago could be coming at the perfect time. 

The Cubs have now lost six straight games, and it looks as if things are only going to get worse. Chicago is now just 23-36 on the year, and they could be headed for a last-place finish in a bad NL Central Division. 

The San Diego Padres are the moneyline betting favorites at -132 over the Chicago Cubs in the series opener on Monday night. 

Darvish Set to Deal For Padres

Former Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish will be on the mound for the Padres, and he has had plenty of success on the mound at Wrigley Field. Darvish is 5-3 with a 3.61 ERA this season, and he is facing a lineup that he could dominate. 

The San Diego offense is still missing a couple of key players at this time, but they might have the NL MVP leading the way. Manny Machado leads the team with 10 home runs and 37 RBIs this season, and he could be in for a big series. 

San Diego still has work to do if they want to get to the top of the NL West Division, but this is a team that is loaded with talent. 

Cubs Can't Get Any Outs

The Chicago Cubs now have a team ERA of 4.59, and that number got a lot worse over the last week. Chicago just gave up 28 runs in a three-game series to the New York Yankees, and that pitching staff is a mess.

Justin Steele will make the start on Monday night, and he is just 1-5 with a 4.79 ERA this season. The bullpen is taxed, and Steele will need to go deep into this game. 

The offense has struggled of late as well, but there is some thunder in that lineup. Chicago is hitting an impressive .242 as a team, and they have actually hit 12 more home runs than the Padres. 

Padres Pound the Cubs

Returning home to Wrigley Field should help the Cubs in theory, but it’s hard to see that being the case in this game. Chicago just doesn’t have a team that is capable of winning games at the MLB level, and they are really struggling at this time. 

Darvish will get some revenge on his former team in this game, and don’t expect him to do any damage at all. The Cubs won’t be able to keep the Padres from having a big offensive game, and this game might get out of hand in a hurry. 

It’s going to be another long week for the Cubs, and it starts in this game. Take the San Diego Padres -3.5 as they pound the Cubs in the series opener. 

Prop Picks

Chicago Cubs (+105) UNDER 3.5 Runs

San Diego is allowing 3.60 runs per 9 innings on defense, which ranks No. 4 in the league, while holding opponents to a .216 batting average, which ranks No. 2. Scores have gone UNDER in eight of the Padres’ last 13 games versus NL Central opponents.

With Dunkel predicting a San Diego road victory by the score of 5-2, take the Cubs (+105) to finish UNDER their Vegas team total of 3.5 runs against the Padres.

Justin Steele (-105) OVER 4.5 Strikeouts

Steele has 47 strikeouts in 47 innings pitches (9.0 Ks per 9 innings), which ranks No. 1 on the Cubs. San Diego’s offense is averaging 8.47 strikeouts per game, which ranks No. 14 in the league.

With Dunkel predicting the final score staying UNDER the Vegas total, take Steele (-105) to finish OVER his Vegas total of 4.5 strikeouts versus the Padres.