Game 3 between the Philadelphia Phillies (57-29) and Chicago Cubs (39-48) will be played on Thursday, July 4th, at 2:20 PM ET. This MLB betting opportunity will be held at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, but the Phillies are the market favorites with a moneyline of -135.
The Phillies have won two consecutive games over the Cubs and are 4-1 in their last five games overall. Their latest win was a 5-3 showing, where Edmundo Sosa and Whit Merrifield helped drive in two runs in the eighth inning to push them over the top.
Cristopher Sanchez (6-3) (2.41 ERA, 1.19 WHIP) will take the mound to start in Game 3. He is a reliable pitcher and should offer a strong handful of innings.
Bryce Harper will be unavailable for this game since he is still on the injured reserve list due to a hamstring strain. Alec Bohm will likely shine, as he leads them with 70 RBIs and ranks third in the league.
The Phillies have consistently shown success at the plate. They currently average .259 and are allowing opponents to average .224. This gives them quality breathing room on offense.
The Cubs have now lost three straight games dating back to the finale of their series against the Milwaukee Brewers. They are 1-4 over their last five matchups. In this series, they are averaging 3.50 runs while allowing 5.50.
They hope to slow down the Phillies with Jameson Taillon (4-4) (3.03 ERA, 1.24 WHIP) on the mound. Their ERA as a team is at a slight disadvantage, coming in at 4.00, while the Phillies' is 3.09.
Their offense has a couple of standout players, most notably Christopher Morel and Cody Bellinger. Morel leads with 15 homers and 45 RBIs, while Bellinger leads with a batting average of .274.
The Cubs are weaker at the plate than the Phillies. They are averaging .227 and giving up .240 to opposing teams. This will likely play a role once more since the first two games showed this correlation, hurting them.
The odds for the finale in this series are brought to you courtesy of MyBookie, which has the Philadelphia Phillies as favorites to sweep the Cubs. Looking at market insights, they have a 60.6 percent chance of securing the win.
Their offense has done well in this series, and they have done enough on the defensive end to keep the Cubs at bay. Despite not having their best offensive player in Harper, the Phillies have enough weapons to overcome that. This is another excellent opportunity for the Phillies to close it out.
