Bet on Major League Baseball – Cubs vs. Brewers

The Chicago Cubs, coming off of a 2 and 1 series loss to the New York Mets, begin another 3-game road series on Friday night when they take on the Milwaukee Brewers as the favored baseball bet in the sportsbook.

The Cubbies recently announced that ace Carlos Zambrano was going to the bullpen. There’s been fierce debate on whether or not that’s a good thing for Chicago.

Chicago is hoping that it is because the Milwaukee Brewers have been on fire lately. In sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates in their last 3-game series, the Brew Crew outscored the Pirates 36 to 1.

That’s pretty incredible. They send Jeff Suppan to the mound in hopes of cashing in on the Cubs’ offensive woes. Suppan hasn’t had a great 2010 so far. Suppan is 0-0 with a 7.20 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP.

In his last game against the Cubs, Suppan gave up 6 hits and 4 earned runs in 5 innings of work. It was his only start of 2010.

Chicago counters Suppan with the often times terrific Ryan Dempster. Dempster is 1 and 0 in 2010 with a 3.15 ERA and very good 1.10 WHIP. His lone victory came against the Brewers on 4/12 where he pitched 6.1 innings, giving up 7 hits for 5 earned runs.

The Cubs are a slight favorite in the MLB sportsbook.

Chicago Cubs

Ryan Dempster – R -1 ½ +130 -125 O 9 -110

Milwaukee Brewers

Jeff Suppan – R +1 ½ -150 +105 U 9 -110

The MLB betting trends say that the Brewers will win this game.

• The Chicago Cubs are 4 and 0 in their last 4 games when Ryan Dempster takes the mount in game 1 of a series.
• The Chicago Cubs are 2 and 10 in Ryan Dempster’s last 12 road starts with the total set at 9 to 10 ½.
• The Milwaukee Berweres are 7 and 0 in their last 7 games at home vs. a team with a road winning percentage of less than .400.
• The Milwaukee Brewers are 7 and 3 in their last 10 games as an underdog.

There are two keys in this game. The first is whether or not Suppan shows up to pitch. Suppan was knocked around in his first start against Chicago but that was his only start of 2010. Perhaps, in his second start, he’ll have more control over his pitches.

The second key in this game is whether or not the Brewers batters will slow down. Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun is hitting .417. He’s gone 8 for 16 with 2 dingers and 8 RBIs in the Brewers’ last 4 games.

Prince Fielder hit a home run on Thursday and 12 of the Brewers 25 hits against the Pirates went for extra bases on Thursday.

Against the Cubbies, the Brewers were pretty good in the last game racking up 7 hits and 5 runs in 6.1 innings against Dempster. I believe that they keep it going on Friday night.

Milwaukee is playing out of this world right now and the Cubs just aren’t hitting the ball well at all. Chicago is averaging 4 runs per game. They’re batting .253 as a team per game.

That’s not going to be enough against the Milwaukee Brewers. Milwaukee is good for at least 5 to 6 runs against the Cubs on Friday night. That should be enough this time to win the game.

MLB Free Pick: Milwaukee Brewers +105 < < Sign Now Here > >