The Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies meet in MLB action from Citizens Bank Park on Friday.

The Chicago Cubs will try to build up some positive momentum going into the second half of the season after dropping 9 of their last 10 games heading into the all-star break. Willson Contreras has 73 hits, 13 home runs and a .253 batting average while Patrick Wisdom also has 17 home runs, 46 RBIs and 18 doubles on the year. Ian Happ also has a team-high 87 hits with 23 doubles of his own and a .274 batting average as well on the year. Justin Steele will start here and is 3-6 with a 4.15 ERA and 79 strikeouts this season.

The Philadelphia Phillies will look to pick up games in some winnable spots to try to make up ground in the NL East. Nick Castellanos has a team-high 89 hits with 20 doubles and 46 RBIs while Kyle Schwarber also has team-highs of 29 home runs and 58 RBIs as well this season. Alec Bohm’s posting a .276 batting average and Rhys Hoskins has 19 home runs and 44 RBIs so far this season. Kyle Gibson will start here and is 5-3 with a 4.35 ERA and 80 strikeouts this season.

Chicago is 1-9 in their last 10 games overall and 1-4 in their last 5 road games. Philadelphia is 5-2 in their last 7 home games while the under is 9-2 in their last 11 games overall.

I get the case to be made for an underdog in some spots, but this isn’t one of them. The Cubs just were not playing well entering the all-star break and this is a far from ideal spot to turn things around, when Gibson’s pitched well as of late and has pitched well at home pretty much all year long. I’m not the biggest fan of the Phillies, but there are spots where it just makes sense and this is one of those spots. Give me Philly here.