Chicago Cubs vs San Diego Padres Predictions, Betting Odds & Picks

Garcia’s 2021 record: (23-19-2)

How to Watch Chicago Cubs vs San Diego Padres

Will either unheralded pitcher break out on the national spotlight?

Baseball is having a hard time selling even its brightest stars, so if you’re not a household name, it’s not likely you’ve caught on much beyond your local market. That’s why a vast majority of fans would likely be surprised to know they’re in for what should be a great pitching matchup between Adbert Alzolay and Ryan Weathers.

Alzolay, the 26-year-old righty for the Cubs, has been even more consistent than his 4-4 record would indicate. Alzolay has a 3.62 ERA an impressive 0.91 WHIP and has either thrown five innings and given up three runs or fewer in eight of his ten starts.

His last start came against the Padres and he was everything you could ask for — five innings, one run, three hits, one walk and seven strikeouts.

Meanwhile, Weathers for the Padres has had a sneaky good rookie season. The 21-year-old has served essentially as a swingman for San Diego, appearing in 12 games: seven starts and five relief appearances.

No matter where Weathers has been pitching, he’s been effective with a 2.06 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 2-2 record with 29 strikeouts in 39 innings. It will be interesting to see how both respond to pitching on national television.

Padres offense looks to get out of ice cold slide

There has been no sugar coating it — for a little more than a week now, the Padres offense has been down right dreadful. Thought to be one of the most explosive offenses in the league, San Diego  has been silenced lately, scoring just 18 total runs in its last eight games.

For the last week, Fernando Tatis Jr. is the only player with more than 10 at bats who is hitting .300 or better. San Diego has 10 players who’ve had more than 10 at bats this last week and nine of them are getting on base less than 33 percent of the time during that stretch.

The problem is that it hasn’t been one person who’s gone cold, it’s been large chunks of the team. Jake Cronenworth (3-for-22), Eric Hosmer (4-for-24) and Jurickson Profar (4-for-23) are all mired in slumps this past week, combining for just two extra base hits and one RBI in 69 at bats.

The cold streak dates back to when the Padres got swept in Chicago a week ago and they haven’t been able to rally since. It will be interesting to see if they can gets the bats going against a guy who hasn’t given up more than three earned runs in a start since surrendering four in his first start of the year.

X-factors to Watch

If we said anybody other than Patrick Wisdom for the Cubs, this would be an almost useless thought.

Wisdom is on a tear few have ever achieved — according to Elias Sports, he’s one of just three players in MLB history with seven or more home runs in his first eight career starts with a team.

He’s hitting .412 with seven home runs, 10 RBIs and a 1.533 OPS.

For the Padres, when you’re in a slump like this you look for a reason to think someone might get hot. This time around, we will go with the left-handed hitting Cronenworth. He’s one of the best on the team against right-handed pitchers — hitting .285 with a a.352 OBP and .802 OPS.