Chicago Cubs (16-24) vs. Cincinnati Reds (12-28)
May 23, 2022 6:40 pm EDT
The Line: Cincinnati Reds +105 / Chicago Cubs -115; Over/Under: +9
(Get latest betting odds)
The Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds meet in an NL Central division matchup in MLB action from Great American Ballpark on Monday night.
The Chicago Cubs will look to build on their 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks from Sunday’s series finale. Willson Contreras has 31 hits and a .258 batting average while Patrick Wisdom has a team-high 9 home runs, 20 RBIs and 8 doubles on the year. Seiya Suzuki also has 19 RBIs and 11 doubles chipped in for the Cubbies up to this point in the year. Ian Happ leads the Cubs with 34 hits with a .276 batting average as well on the year. Drew Smyly will start here and is 1-5 with a 3.97 ERA and 28 strikeouts this season.
The Cincinnati Reds will hope to build on a 3-2 win over the Blue Jays from their series finale on Sunday. Tommy Pham has 30 hits with a .221 batting average while Brandon Drury has a team-high 7 home runs and 22 RBIs with 8 doubles as well. Tyler Naquin has 11 doubles and Kyle Farmer also has 11 doubles while Naquin and Colin Moran each have 21 RBIs as well this season. Vladimir Gutierrez will get the start here and is 0-5 with a 8.65 ERA and 19 strikeouts this season.
Chicago is 5-2 in their last 7 road games and 9-4 in their last 13 games as a road favorite while the under is 3-0-1 in their last 4 games following a win. Cincinnati is 4-1 in their last 5 series-opening games and 11-27 in their last 38 games as an underdog while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 games overall.
I get the case that could be made either way here, but I’m looking at the Cubs here. Chicago isn’t a world-beater by any stretch of the imagination, but they’re the team with the better starting pitcher here as Smyly’s been a better pitcher on the road especially while Gutierrez is coming back from the IL and wasn’t good to begin with this season. I’ll side with the Cubs here.
