Houston Astros (21-19) vs Chicago Cubs (19-21)
Game Info: Monday, May 15, 2023 at 8:10 pm (Minute Maid Park)
Framber Valdez (3-4) (2.38) vs Jameson Taillon (0-2) (5.95)
Betting Odds: Houston Astros -190 / Chicago Cubs +160 --- Over/Under: 7.5 Click Here for the Latest Odds
Where to Watch: MLB.tv Stream the MLB Game of the Day all season on ESPN+. Sign up now! 
The Chicago Cubs will play the Houston Astros in Game 1 of their series at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas.
Cubs Preview
The Chicago Cubs are 19-21 this season and they have lost five of their last seven games. Chicago is coming off of a series loss to Minnesota, where they lost two out of three games. The Chicago pitching staff has a 3.91 ERA, a 1.20 WHIP, and a .233 opponent batting average this year. The Cubs offense has scored 193 runs with a .266 batting average and a .340 on base percentage. Patrick Wisdom is batting .240 with 12 home runs and 23 RBI’s for the Cubs. The projected starting pitcher for Chicago is Jameson Taillon, who is 0-2 with a 6.41 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP over 19.2 innings pitched this season.
Astros Preview
The Houston Astros are 21-19 this season and they have won four of their last five games. Houston is coming off of a series win against the White Sox, where they won two out of the three games in the series. The Houston pitching staff has a 3.29 ERA, a 1.20 WHIP, and a .237 opponent batting average. The Astros offense has scored 171 runs with a .238 batting average and a .307 on base percentage this season. Yordan Alvarez is batting .288 with nine home runs and 37 RBI’s for the Astros. The projected starting pitcher for Houston is Framber Valdez, who is 3-4 with a 2.38 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP over 53.0 innings pitched this year.
Trends
Chicago is 16-5 in their last 21 game one’s of a series and 1-5 in their last 6 road games. The under is 40-19-6 in Chicago’s last 65 game one’s of a series. Houston is 4-1 in their last 5 games and 135-66 in their last 201 game one’s of a series. The over is 6-0 in Houston’s last 6 Monday games. The under is 23-11-1 in these two teams last 35 head to head meetings.
Pick
Houston comes into this game playing very well, but they are missing quite a few players due to injury. Chicago has lost five of their last seven games and they gave up a lot of runs in their series with Minnesota. The Astros have a big advantage in starting pitching, as Framber Valdez has allowed three earned runs or fewer in five straight starts. I like Houston to win this game by at least two runs.
David’s Pick Astros -1.5
AUTHOR: David Racey
Mitch's Take...
