Chicago Cubs (8-6) vs. Oakland Athletics (3-13)
The 2023 Major League Baseball Season is rolling along in the fourth week of the 2023 season as the Chicago Cubs take on the Oakland Athletics in this interleague clash on Tuesday, August 18, 2023, at the RingCentral Coliseum in Oakland, California. Chicago enters as the favorite (-180) with the total set at 7.5.
These teams played on Monday night, but this analysis was not written by the time that contest had concluded. The Athletics and the Cubs last faced each other in 2019 when the Cubs won two of the three games in Chicago. The Cubs are 7-3 in the last 10 meetings.
The Chicago Cubs defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, 3-2, taking two of the three contests in Los Angeles. That gave the Cubs victories in the last three series and they are 7-3 in their last 10. Entering Monday’s contest, the Cubs were in second place in the NL Central and were 3-2 on the road.
The Cubs pitching staff is coming alive, allowing two runs in each of the three contests against the Dodgers. It has been in improving the bullpen that has been the key for this club, as the overall bullpen ERA this season is 4.22, but they have lowered that to 3.38 over the last five games. The starters have the third-best ERA in baseball (3.11), and one of the keys to that has been right-handed pitcher Marcus Stroman, who is 2-1 with a 1.00 ERA through his first three starts. Stroman tossed 12 shutout innings to start the season but gave up two runs in six innings to Seattle in his last outing.
Name rings bells ??@Cody_Bellinger pic.twitter.com/KftmdCrreY
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 16, 2023
The Cubs offense has been solid this season, ranked eighth in OPS (.765) and have 18 homeruns and 73 runs scored in 14 games. Chicago is hitting .281 over their last five contests while averaging 5.73 runs per game. Chicago is hitting .282 with five homeruns against left-handers this season.