The San Diego Padres will travel to Chicago, Illinois, to face the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The game will start at 7:40 PM ET on Monday evening and will air on Padres TV and MARQ.
The San Diego Padres have been a .500 team for most of the season. However, they improved their second base position last week by adding Luis Arraez. He has won two batting titles in his career and is coming in back-to-back seasons in the 2022 and 2023 MLB seasons.
Arraez is hitting .299 this season with five RBIs, so he isn't having as good a season as we are used to seeing. However, he is 24th in the National League in batting average. The Padres are in second place in the NL West with a record of 18-19 and saw their four-game winning streak come to an end on Sunday in a Game 3 loss against the Arizona Diamondbacks. However, they still won the series 2-1 over their division rival.
San Diego won the series earlier this season 2-1 at home and won by an average margin of 1.67 runs per game in those contests. The San Diego Padres will look to continue their hot streak when they travel to face the Chicago Cubs for Game 1 of the series.
The Chicago Cubs have been one of the best teams in the National League this season as they enter this game with the 5th best record in the NL and are in 2nd place in the NL Central with a record of 21-14.
The Cubs are also coming off a 2-1 series win against the Milwaukee Brewers, who are in 1st place in the division, at home and won by an average margin of 1.33 runs per game while having won two games in a row, including a 5-0 shutout win in Game 3 of the series against the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Cubs have split the previous ten games in the series; however, they have been outscored by the Padres by an average of 3.8 to 4 runs per game in those meetings. The Cubs will look to extend their winning streak to three games when they host the San Diego Padres for Game 1 of the series on Monday evening.
BetNow has the Chicago Cubs listed as -120 moneyline favorites at home against the San Diego Padres in Game 1 of the series on Monday evening. The teams have split the previous ten meetings, and the Padres have outscored the Cubs by an average of 4 to 3.8 runs per game in those contests. The Padres have also won two of the previous three games in the series, winning by an average margin of 1.67 runs per game in those matchups.
Chicago enters this game with a better record. However, in those contests, San Diego has won two of the previous three meetings by an average margin of 1.67 runs per game. Yu Darvish is also 2-0 with a no-decision in his last three starts against the Cubs. I look for those trends to continue, so I am taking the moneyline for the San Diego Padres when they travel to face the Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of the series on Monday evening.
