NY Mets vs Chicago Cubs Prediction 5-2-24 Picks

The Chicago Cubs and the New York Mets meet Thursday in MLB action from Citi Field. Here’s a NY Mets vs Chicago Cubs Prediction. This will be the final installment in a four-game series. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for the game.

Chicago Cubs Betting Preview

The Cubs played the Boston Red Sox over the weekend and lost two of three games. Chicago won the Monday game over the Mets 3-1 but lost game two 4-2. In Wednesday’s matchup, the Cubs eked out a 1-0 win. Starter Shota Imanaga finished with 7.0 innings, three hits, one walk and seven Ks.

In the Thursday finale starting pitcher role, the Cubs will send out Ben Brown. This year over his seven games (three starts), Brown is 0-1 with a 4.30 ERA and 22 Ks in 23.0 innings. This is Brown’s first season of MLB action.

New York Mets Betting Preview

Over on the Mets’ side, they had some troubles with the St. Louis Cardinals in their last series, losing the first two games 4-2 and 7-4 before a 4-2 Sunday victory. In Wednesday’s game three versus the Cubs, New York posted five hits in the defeat. Jose Butto lasted 6.0 innings with one earned on four hits and two walks.

It’ll be Adrian Houser in the starter role for the Mets on Thursday. So far this year Houser is 0-3 with an 8.37 ERA and 14 Ks in 23.2 innings over five starts. Houser has a career record of 31-37 with a 4.19 ERA in 134 games (102 starts).

Cubs vs Mets Injury Notes

Cubs SP Justin Steele (hamstring) should be close to rejoining the rotation following his rehab start with Triple-A Iowa on Wednesday. SP Kyle Hendricks (back) is targeting a rehab start late in the week.

On Monday, Mets SS Jett Williams was placed on the 7-day Injured List at Double-A Binghamton with soreness in his right wrist.

New York Mets Team Facts

• The Mets have won 16 of their last 17 Thursday day home games against National League opponents.
• The Mets have failed to cover the run line in each of their last five day games against the Cubs at Citi Field following a home loss.

Chicago Cubs Team Facts

• The Cubs have won seven of their last eight games as underdogs against the Mets following a road win.
• The Cubs have covered the run line in nine of their last 10 games as underdogs.
• The ‘Inning 1 OVER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Cubs’ last seven games as underdogs.

NY Mets vs Chicago Cubs Prediction

I’ll lean toward the Cubs. Some of that is due to Houser’s recent struggles. In his last two games combined, Houser has 14 earned runs on 16 hits and six walks over 8.1 innings. He’s 0-2 in that pair. As for Brown, he’s coming off a bad outing himself with three earned on seven hits in 3.2 innings versus the Red Sox on April 27.

On Wednesday Chicago only had five hits—two of them belonged to Nico Hoerner. Otherwise it was a strong night on the mound with Mark Leiter Jr, Yency Almonte and Hector Neris combining for 2.0 bullpen innings, two hits, one walk and three Ks. I like the Thursday finale to be another close one.