Tampa Bay Rays vs Chicago Cubs Prediction 6-13-24 Picks

In this article we will formulate a Tampa Bay Rays vs Chicago Cubs prediction for this MLB game on Thursday, June 13th at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Let’s take a look at the prediction for game three in the series. 

Rays Continue to Struggle Offensively 

The Tampa Bay Rays are 32-36 this year and they have lost five of their last six games. Tampa Bay won game one in this series by a score of 5-2 on Tuesday, but they lost on Wednesday. Prior to this series, the Rays were swept by the Orioles in four games, won both games against the Marlins, and lost two out of three against the Orioles. Tampa Bay is just 7-14 in their last 21 games and they are last in the AL East, one game behind Toronto. 

The Tampa Bay pitching staff has a 4.38 ERA, a 1.27 WHIP, and a .250 opponent batting average. The Rays offense has scored 263 runs with a .232 batting average and a .305 on base percentage. Isaac Paredes is batting .291 with 10 home runs and 38 RBI’s for the Rays this season. Tampa Bay is 26th in the MLB in runs scored this year and they have scored three runs or fewer in five of their last six games. 

Cubs Aiming for Much Needed Series Win 

The Chicago Cubs are 33-35 this season and they have lost four of their last six games. Chicago lost game one in this series on Tuesday, but they won game two by a score of 4-3 on Wednesday. Prior to this series, the Cubs lost three out of four against the Reds, won both games against the White Sox, and lost two out of three against the Reds. Chicago has only won one of their last seven series, and they are seven games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central. 

The Chicago pitching staff has a 3.93 ERA, a 1.29 WHIP, and a .241 opponent batting average. The Cubs offense has scored 290 runs with a .230 batting average and a .311 on base percentage. Cody Bellinger is batting .267 with nine home runs and 32 RBI’s for the Cubs this season. Chicago is 16th in team ERA this year and they have allowed at least four runs in 10 of their last 13 games. 

Starting Pitchers

The projected starting pitcher for Tampa Bay is Taj Bradley, who is 1-4 with a 5.17 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP over 31.1 innings pitched this season. Bradley has allowed two earned runs or fewer in three of his last five starts, but did allow 14 earned runs in the other two outings in that span. The projected starting pitcher for Chicago is Justin Steele, who is 0-3 with a 3.65 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP over 44.1 innings pitched this year. Steele has allowed two earned runs in his last three starts (19.0 IP), but did allow nine earned runs and 12 hits in the two starts prior to that. 

Why the Chicago Cubs will win

The road team has won eight of the Rays’ last nine games.
The Rays have lost five of their last six games.
The Rays have failed to cover the run line in eight of their last nine games at Tropicana Field.
The road team has covered the run line in eight of the Rays’ last nine games.
The Rays have trailed after 5 innings in each of their last five games as underdogs.

Total Runs Facts

Each of the Cubs’ last five games have gone UNDER the total runs line.
Each of the last five games between the Cubs and Rays have gone UNDER the total runs line.
The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Rays’ last six home games against NL Central opponents.
The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Cubs’ last four night games.

Tampa Bay Rays vs Chicago Cubs Prediction 

Chicago comes into this game needing a series win very badly, but they are just 15-22 on the road this season. The Cubs were able to pick up a nice win on Wednesday and they will have Justin Steele on the mound, who has pitched great in his last three starts. Tampa Bay is just 18-23 at home this year and their offense needs to find some consistency. The Rays are starting Taj Bradley, who has been very up and down this year. It looks like Justin Steele has returned to his regular form and I like him to have a strong outing against this Rays lineup. My Tampa Bay Rays vs Chicago Cubs prediction is for the Cubs to get the win.