Cubs vs. Pirates Betting Odds, Pitching Matchup – September 2, 2024

Jameson Taillon will take the mound for the Chicago Cubs (70-66) Monday looking for his 10th win of the season in a matchup with the Pittsburgh Pirates (63-72). The Cubs are -138 favorites to pick up the win in the contest, which starts at 7:40 p.m. ET on MARQ, live from Wrigley Field. Chicago’s Taillon gets the start, and he’ll go against Pittsburgh’s Jared Jones.

Here is our betting preview for this game, and discover all of our expert MLB picks, too!

Cubs vs. Pirates Betting Lines

• Favorite: Cubs (-138)
• Underdog: Pirates (+118)
• Over/under: 7.5

Cubs vs. Pirates Betting Insights

• The Cubs have won in 34, or 53.1%, of the 64 contests they have been named as odds-on favorites in this year.
• Chicago has a record of 21-9 when favored by -138 or more this year.
• The moneyline set for this matchup implies the Cubs have a 58% chance of walking away with the win.
• The Pirates have gone 34-48 in games they were the underdog on the moneyline (winning 41.5% of those games).
• When it has played as a moneyline underdog with odds of +118 or longer, Pittsburgh has a 20-29 record (winning 40.8% of its games).
• The implied moneyline probablility for this matchup gives the Pirates a 45.9% chance to win.

Cubs vs. Pirates Hitting Leaders

• Ian Happ leads Chicago in home runs (23) and runs batted in (76) this season while batting .241.
• Among batters in baseball, Happ is 28th in homers and 31st in RBI.
• Nico Hoerner is batting .258 with an OBP of .328 and a slugging percentage of .350 this season.
• Bryan Reynolds leads the Pirates with 21 home runs and 74 runs batted in, while putting up a team-best batting average of .282.
• In all of MLB, Reynolds is 37th in home runs and 34th in RBI.
• Oneil Cruz is hitting .276 with 31 doubles, three triples, 18 home runs and 38 walks.

Cubs vs. Pirates Pitching Rankings

• The Cubs average 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings as a pitching staff, ninth-most in the league.
• The Cubs have pitched to a 3.82 ERA this season, which ranks ninth in baseball.
• Cubs pitchers have a 1.251 WHIP this season, 12th in the majors.
• The 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings compiled by the Pirates pitching staff ranks 19th in the majors.
• Pittsburgh has a 4.13 team ERA that ranks 16th among all MLB pitching staffs.
• The Pirates have the 23rd-ranked WHIP in MLB (1.307).