The Pittsburgh Pirates and our Chicago Cubs will square off at Wrigley Field on Sunday, August 17, 2025, in the finale of their series. The Cubs, who have a winning record, are expected to beat the struggling Pirates. The game boasts a pitching matchup of Javier Assad for the Cubs and Carmen Mlodzinski for the Pirates, with both clubs likely going to their bullpens early and often.<\/p>\n
The series wraps up on Sunday, August 17, 2025, with a 1:20 p.m. CDT first pitch at Wrigley Field in Chicago.<\/p>\n
TV Channel: MARQ and SportsNet PT<\/p>\n
Live Stream: Fubo (subject to regional restrictions)<\/p>\n
The Cubs are heavy favorites in this matchup, with moneyline odds of around -201. The Pirates are the underdogs at +165. The over\/under for the game is 8 runs.<\/p>\n
Cubs are -201 moneyline favorites.<\/p>\n
Pirates are +165 moneyline underdogs.<\/p>\n
Over\/under established at 8 runs.<\/p>\n
Score Prediction: Cubs 5, Pirates 4<\/p>\n
Total Prediction: Over 8 runs<\/p>\n
Pitching Matchup Analysis<\/p>\n
Javier Assad (0-1, 9.00 ERA) will go for the Cubs, his second start of the year. In his last appearance, he gave up four earned runs in four innings. Carmen Mlodzinski (2-7, 4.20 ERA) will start for the Pirates, as an apparent opener for a bullpen game. Mlodzinski has been more effective as a reliever this year.<\/p>\n
Chicago Cubs:<\/p>\n
Record: 69-53<\/p>\n
Home Record: 37-23<\/p>\n
Offense is 7th in MLB with 5.00 runs a game.<\/p>\n
Ranked 7th in MLB with 170 home runs.<\/p>\n
Team batting average of .252 (8th in MLB).<\/p>\n
7.7 strikeouts per game strikeout rate (4th in MLB).<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh Pirates:<\/p>\n
Record: 52-72<\/p>\n
Road Record: 18-43<\/p>\n
Ranked last in MLB with 3.52 runs per game. Ranked last in MLB with 88 home runs.<\/p>\n
Team batting average of .231 (27th in MLB).<\/p>\n
Strikeout rate of 8.7 per game (23rd in MLB).<\/p>\n
Seiya Suzuki (Cubs): Leads the Cubs with 27 home runs and 86 RBIs. He’s batting .251 and has given recent indication of bouncing back from a mid-season slump.<\/p>\n
Nico Hoerner (Cubs): Batting .294 to pace the Cubs and is on a four-game hitting streak.<\/p>\n
Bryan Reynolds (Pirates): 61 RBIs lead the Pirates and is batting .264.<\/p>\n
Isiah Kiner-Falefa (Pirates): Hitting .267 to lead the Pirates.<\/p>\n
The Cubs are a solid home team and have been favored in most of their games this season, going 55-31 as the favorite. The Pirates, however, have struggled as underdogs, going 35-51 when not favored. The betting trends point toward the Cubs, as the moneyline has moved in their favor, and the total has moved down slightly, indicating confidence in them.<\/p>\n
Let\u00b4s Go Cubs!<\/p>\n
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The Pittsburgh Pirates and our Chicago Cubs will square off at Wrigley Field on Sunday, August 17, 2025, in the finale of their series. The Cubs, who have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2279,"featured_media":416857,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16757],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-416856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n