Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers – MLB, September 11, 2020

The Chicago Cubs head to Miller Park in Milwaukee on Friday night to open a three-game series against their divisional rivals Milwaukee Brewers. They’ve already played seven games in 2020, and the Brewers lead the series 4-3 after winning their previous three encounters with the Cubs. 

Chicago was sitting atop of the NL Central on Thursday, two and a half games ahead of the Cardinals and four and a half games ahead of the Brewers. Milwaukee was 1.5 games behind the wild-card spot in the National League, so the upcoming series would be very important for both Cubs and Brewers.

Hereof, I’m bringing you the best Cubs vs. Brewers pick along with the latest odds update, while you can visit our daily betting page for more MLB tips and predictions.

According to Bovada, the Brewers opened as -150 favorites to beat the Cubs. Milwaukee is 11-4 in its last 15 home meetings with the Cubs, so the Brewers deserve to be listed as favorites, and I think -150 is a fair price.

We’ll see a couple of veterans on the mound, and the bookies don’t expect to see a bunch of runs.

Jon Lester will take the mound for the Cubs, and the 36-year-old southpaw is 2-2 with a 5.80 ERA and 1.41 WHIP in eight starts this season. Lester pitched six innings in a no-decision against the Brewers on August 15, allowing five earned runs on nine hits.

Over his last two starts, Jon has surrendered 10 earned runs and 14 hits across 8.2 innings of work. He’s 5-4 with a 3.33 ERA in 12 career starts against Milwaukee.

Brandon Woodruff will toe the slab for the Brewers, and the 27-year-old righty is 2-3 with a 3.91 ERA and 1.22 WHIP in nine starts this term. He’s 0-1 in a couple of starts against the Cubs in 2020, allowing five earned runs on eight hits through 9.1 innings.

Woodruff has yielded seven earned runs on eight hits and six walks over his previous two outings. Brandon is 0-1 with a 6.00 ERA in five starts and a pair of relief apps against the Cubs in his career.

The Brewers are coming off a 19-0 victory at the Detroit Tigers, but they are still averaging just 4.32 runs per contest (23^rd in the majors). The Cubs are tallying 4.48 runs per game (20^th).

Although neither of these two teams has impressed offensively thus far, I expect to see a high-scoring affair in the opener. Both Jon Lester and Brandon Woodruff have been awful over the last two weeks, and if one of these two guys struggle on Friday, I believe the teams will combine for nine or more runs.

The Brewers are improving offensively, while they hit the ball well last time against Lester. Also, Woodruff is traditionally having problems when he takes on the Cubs’ bats, so I’m going with the over on the totals.