The Chicago Cubs will be looking for back to back wins over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the second of a three games series, a 2:20 pm ET matinee, at Wrigley Field in Chicago today. Former bullpen reliever Andrew Cashner gets his first Major League start for the Cubs while the D-Backs look to right-hander Barry Enright to get a win in his 2011 debut. The Cubs are listed as -150 MLB Lines favorites on the BetUS.com money line with a game total of nine-runs. Arizona backers are getting +130 ML odds as underdogs.
Cashner won a place on the Cubs rotation at Spring Training. The right-hander made 55 appearances in 2010 from the bullpen posting a 4.80 ERA with 50 strikeouts in 54 1/3 innings. Enright, who is making his first start of 2011, went 6-7 with a 3.91 ERA last year.
The Diamondbacks and Cubs are each considered longshots on off shore and Las Vegas 2011 World Series Predictions boards at +10000 and +3000 odds respectively. Only last week, Virginia Commonwealth came close to winning a National College Basketball championship at +10000 odds.
The Cubs won Game-1 of the series 4-1 on Monday by getting superb pitching from starter Randy Wells aided by solid bullpen performances by relievers Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood and key hitting from Alfonso Soriano including his second homer in two days. Bettors who backed the Cubs at -158 on the money line won on the day, and the total score (5) sent UNDER bettors to the payout window.
I am using totals trends as a tool for making my MLB Picks for todays game. Both Clubs are now deep in their rotation and neither one of today's pitchers kept runs from crossing the plate much last year. The total has gone OVER in seven of the last eight games played between the Diamondbacks and Cubs and OVER in four of the last five games played between the clubs at Wrigley Field. MLB BEST BET – OVER 9.
