The Reds (28-29) are in Chicago Friday to open a series against the Cubs (35-21).
Andrew Abbott is slated to take the mound for Cincinnati against Colin Rea for Chicago.
Thursday was an off day for each of these clubs. The Cubs are coming off a three-game sweep of the Rockies. Pete Crow-Armstrong homered and Matthew Boyd allowed a single, unearned run over six innings to earn his fifth win of the season in Wednesday's 2-1 win.
The Reds took two of three from the Royals to begin the week. They did lose Wednesday, though, 3-2. Tyler Stephenson and Spencer Steer each picked up three hits in the loss.
Lets dive into the series opener and find a sweat or two.
We've got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch tipoff, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.
Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type!
If you're looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
Please bet responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700.
Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Friday's game between the Reds and the Cubs:
Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC
Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff: