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No question that the marquee series of the weekend starts Thursday night from Los Angeles as the Chicago Cubs make their first and only visit of the season to Dodger Stadium. It’s a terrific pitching matchup in Thursday’s opener with the Dodgers as heavy favorites on the MLB odds.

How to Bet Cubs at Dodgers MLB Odds & TV Info

When: Thursday, 10:10 PM ET
Where: Dodger Stadium
Probable pitchers (away/home): Zach Davies/Walker Buehler
TV: MLB Network; MLB Extra Innings
Stream/gameday audio: https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/
Opening MLB Lines: TBA (Dodgers will be heavy favorites)

Why Bet on Chicago?

This 10-game road trip that starts Thursday is Chicago’s longest trip of the season. Once its completed on July 4 at Cincinnati, the team will begin a stretch of 14 home games in 21 contests from July 5, past the All-Star break through July 29.

The Cubs broke out of a major hitting slump for one day at least, avoiding a home two-game sweep vs. the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday with a 7-1 win. Chicago had totaled just 14 runs in the previous eight games. Kris Bryant — who was 7 for 57 over the previous 17 games — homered in the fourth inning to end a career-worst stretch of 48 at-bats without an extra-base hit.

Patrick Wisdom went 1-for-4 with a solo homer. The homer is already the 10th of the season for the rookie Wisdom, and that’s in just 27 games. After a scorching start to the season, Wisdom entered the contest having gone 5-for-30 with only one home run over his past 11 games. Star first baseman Anthony Rizzo got Tuesday off but it was simply for rest. Rizzo is hitting just .154 over his past 12 games. Rizzo leads all left-handed hitters with a .357 average (20-for-56) against left-handed pitching this season but is hitting .218 (38-for-174) against right-handers.

It’s Zach Davies (4-4) on the mound here. Davies was hammered for a season-high eight runs over six innings in a loss to the Marlins last Friday. Didn’t see that coming. Davies issued a bases-loaded walk to Starling Marte in the third inning before serving up a grand slam to Adam Duvall. He would later give up a three-run homer to Jon Berti in the sixth. Davies had allowed eight runs combined over his previous six starts. His ERA jumped from 4.01 to 4.66.

Davies has a 3-2 record with a 4.15 ERA (20 ER/43.1 IP) in eight starts at Wrigley Field and is 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA (18 ER/30.0 IP) in the seven starts on the road.

This will be his eighth career start against the Dodgers and he’s 3-3 with a 2.37 ERA (13 ER/49.1 IP) against them. Davies has thrown at least 5.0 innings in seven of his eight starts against the Dodgers and owns a 2-1 record with a 1.29 ERA (4 ER/28.0 IP) in four previous starts at Dodger Stadium.

Why Bet on Los Angeles?

While it hasn’t been a great week results-wise yet for the Dodgers, they got infielder Max Muncy off the injured list on Tuesday and outfielder and former NL MVP Cody Bellinger off it Wednesday. Now the team is waiting on shortstop and former NL Rookie of the Year and World Series MVP Corey Seager’s return. He is expected to begin a rehab assignment this weekend. Seager has been out of action since May 16 due to a right-hand fracture. As for the length of Seager’s upcoming assignment, it will be determined based on how he feels.

“I don’t know. I think sometimes it can be three games, sometimes it can be seven or eight games,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I think it’s player dependent. Corey is very in tune with his mechanics. Once he feels ready to go, I believe he’ll be pretty accurate.”

It’s Cy Young candidate Walker Buehler (7-0) on the mound here. Buehler carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning last Saturday, ultimately allowing two runs on two hits over 7 1/3 frames in a victory over the Diamondbacks. The right-hander racked up a season-high 11 strikeouts while walking two. The first hit that he surrendered came on a leadoff single by David Peralta to begin the eighth inning. Nick Ahmed followed with a one-out single, prompting Roberts to go to his bullpen.

“Man, I wanted that no-hitter. Everyone wanted it,” said Roberts. “I mean, he was just on point. It was just electric all night long.”

Buehler generated 14 swinging strikes in the dominant outing, getting four on the fastball, four on the curve and three on the slider, and posted a CSW of 32 percent while tying the Dodgers’ franchise record with his 23rd straight start without being charged with a loss. He has a 2.38 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 88/18 K/BB ratio.

Buehler’s last loss came on Sept. 19, 2019 at Dodger Stadium vs. the Rockies. That 23-game start streak ties him with Kirby Higbe (1943-46) for the longest undefeated run in Dodger history. Roger Clemens holds the Major League record, going 20-0 over 30 starts from 1998-99.