2015 MLB Baseball Picks & Predictions – Cincinnati Reds @ Chicago Cubs Odds & Free Picks 4/13/15

2015 MLB Baseball Picks & Predictions – Cincinnati Reds @ Chicago Cubs Odds & Free Picks 4/13/15: Monday’s early MLB Baseball betting lines are now posted and the matchup that has caught our eye Monday evening is the National League Central Division showdown between the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs at 8:05 PM EST from Wrigley Field in Chicago. The line makers at GT Bets Sportsbook have installed the Chicago Cubs as -138 money line favorites for this matchup and are now taking bets on this game. Let’s dig deeper into this matchup and take a look at the starting pitchers to help us decide who to put our hard earned money on Monday night.

Free MLB Baseball Picks for Monday, April 13th, 2015: Cincinnati Reds @ Chicago Cubs Preview

Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon has his new team playing well heading into this three game series with the Reds that will start a six game home stand for the Cubbies. The Cubs enter this game with a 3-2 overall record and winners in three of their last four games including a 6-5 come from behind victory against the Rockies in Colorado. Maddon will hand the ball to his ace Jon Lester Monday night against the Reds as the newly acquired southpaw looks to redeem himself after a subpar performance in the season opener in front of the home crowd. Lester enters this game 0-1 with a 6.23 ERA after allowing 3 earned runs on 8 hits in just 4 1/3 innings against the St Louis Cardinals last Sunday night in a 3-0 Cubs loss.

The 6-4, 240 pound 31 year-old native of Tacoma, Washington signed a big money deal with the Cubs in the offseason and is being counted on to deliver big time performances for the Cubs this season. The former Red Sox and two time World Series Champion has never faced the Cincinnati Reds in his career so we have no past performances to go on to try and figure out how he will perform Monday night. However, the bet here is that Lester will rebound nicely from his poor Opening night outing against the Cardinals and show the Cubs faithful why their GM Theo Epstein threw big money at the big lefty in free agency.

Chicago Cubs have 16/1 odds to win the World Series in 2015 at Bovada Sportsook.

The Cincinnati Reds enter Monday night’s game against the Cubs with a 4-2 overall record but losers in their last two games as they dropped games over the weekend at home to St Louis. Reds manager Bryan Price will send 5-10, 190 pound right-hander Mike Leake to toe the slab on Monday night and try to put a halt to the Reds two game skid. The 27 year-old native of San Diego, California is 0-0 with a 4.76 ERA in one start so far this season as he didn’t factor into the decision April 8th in the Reds 5-4 victory at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Leake tossed 5 2/3 innings and gave up 5 hits and 3 earned runs in that outing to go with 6 strikeouts and 6 bases on balls. The poor control against the Pirates was not normal for Leake as he usually has good control and only allowed 50 walks in 214.1 innings last season.

Leake has owned the Cubs so far in his career as he is a superb 8-2 with a 3.01 ERA in 15 career starts against Chicago. He has tossed 101.2 innings in his career against the Cubs and has allowed 96 hits and 34 earned runs to go with 68 strikeouts and 28 walks. The diminutive righty only faced the Cubs one time last season and picked up the win on July 7th in the Reds 9-3 victory as he pitched 7 solid innings giving up 9 hits and only 2 earned runs.

We are going to put our money down Monday night on the Reds at +128. Lester is certainly an ace and should perform much better against the Reds as he looks to bounce back from his opening night struggle against the Cards. However, how do you ignore Leake’s history against the Cubs and the +130 odds that we can grab with him? You have to figure Leake is going to keep the Reds in this game and he should be able to match Lester and if it gets into the bullpens than it’s anyone game. At +128 odds the value is clearly in the Reds favor on this matchup Monday night and we are going to take those odds and put in a nice underdog bet on the Reds and Leake. Check out more MLB Baseball picks for Monday from our expert MLB handicappers.

2015 Free MLB Picks: Bet on the Cincinnati Reds +128 over Chicago Cubs Monday night 4/13/15