The Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds meet Thursday in the MLB Field of Dreams Game at the Field of Dreams. The Chicago Cubs look for a win after splitting their last 8 games. The Cincinnati Reds need a win after losing 5 of their last 7 games.
The Chicago Cubs have scored 15 runs in their last 3 games and 4 or more runs in 6 of their last 10 games. The Cubs have won 8 of their last 12 games when scoring 4 or more runs. Ian Happ leads the Cubs with 107 hits and 47 RBI, while Nico Hoerner and Willson Contreras have combined for 189 hits and 81 RBI. Drew Smyly gets the ball, and he is 4-6 with a 3.97 ERA and 52 strikeouts this season. Smyly is 4-0 with a 3.41 ERA and 31 strikeouts in his career against the Reds.
The Cincinnati Reds have scored 5 runs in their last 3 games and 3 or fewer runs in 8 of their last 10 games. The Reds have lost 5 straight games when scoring 3 or fewer runs. Kyle Farmer leads the Reds with 84 hits and 51 RBI, while Nick Senzel and Joey Votto have combined for 134 hits and 59 RBI. Nick Lodolo gets the ball, and he is 3-3 with a 4.40 ERA and 58 strikeouts this season. This will be Lodolo’s first career game against the Cubs.
The Cubs are 0-5 in their last 5 Thursday games and 3-7 in their last 10 overall. The Reds are 2-5 in their last 7 Thursday games and 2-5 in their last 7 overall. The under is 12-4 in Cubs last 16 overall. The under is 8-2 in Reds last 10 overall. The over is 5-2 in the last 7 meetings.
Drew Smyly has allowed 26 hits and 11 earned runs in his last 23 innings, while Nick Lodolo has given up 30 hits and 12 earned runs in his last 28.1 innings. We saw what happened last year in the Field of Dreams game, where it was an offensive explosion. Different offenses, obviously, but the park feels a bit small at times and the Reds offense has picked up over the last week. The over has also hit in 5 of the last 7 meetings between these teams. This total is reasonable. I like the over.