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Braves vs Cubs Odds, Lines, and Pick (April 17)

Quinn Allen

by Quinn Allen in MLB Baseball

Updated Apr 16, 2021 · 8:49 PM PDT

Marcell Ozuna takes a cut
Atlanta Braves left fielder Marcell Ozuna (20) bats against the Philadelphia Phillies during a baseball game Monday, April 12, 2021, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
  • The Braves and Cubs meet on Saturday, April 17th at 2:20 pm ET
  • Atlanta won the series opener by a score of 5-2
  • Get the odds, preview, and best bet for game 2 below

The Atlanta Braves will be looking for their third-straight win on Saturday when they take on the Chicago Cubs (first-pitch 2:20 PM EST) at Wrigley Field.

Atlanta was led by Marcell Ozuna on Friday, who went 3 -for-5 in the series opener. The team collected nine hits in a 5-2 win, but they did strand 11 runners on base.

Braves vs Cubs Odds

Team Runline Moneyline at DraftKings Total
Atlanta Braves N/A -125 N/A
Chicago Cubs N/A +108 N/A

Odds as of April 16th at .

The Braves opened up as a small road favorite, and will send Huascar Ynoa to the hill, while Cubs will counter with righty Trevor Williams.

Ynoa Continues to Excel

Ynoa hasn’t pitched a whole lot at the big league level, appearing in just nine games last season, while making five starts. But, he’s been given the opportunity to be in the Braves starting rotation early on due to Mike Soroka’s injury.

It’s safe to say Ynoa is running away with the opportunity. The hard-throwing righty was put in an opener role last week against the Nationals, throwing five innings of scoreless baseball. Then earlier this week, the youngster made his first start of 2021, dominating the Marlins across six innings, giving up just one run while striking out 10.

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Ynoa has only pitched against a handful of teams in his career and the Cubs have not been one of them. In fact, no one on Chicago has ever faced Ynoa. They will have their hands full though with a fastball that sits consistently in the high 90’s and a wipeout slider that is lethal.

Another Bad Day For Cubs Bats

Chicago continues to struggle to muster up anything offensively. They’re already the worst team in the league with just 2.7 runs per game and that didn’t change much in the opener.

Braves starter Kyle Wright, who was a last-minute replacement for Drew Smyly, hit four Cubs batters but still managed to hold them to three hits and two runs across 4.1 innings. Chicago also had their issues with driving guys in, stranding 12 runners.

Wilson Contreras was the catalyst, going 2-for-3 with a homer, but the rest of the lineup couldn’t string together much at the dish. Getting Ynoa on Saturday will sure not be easy either for the Cubs as he continues to impress in the rotation.

Williams Excels Against Braves

Williams inked a one-year deal with Chicago in the offseason after spending the first six seasons of his major league career in Pittsburgh. He hasn’t enjoyed the greatest start though, compiling a 6.75 ERA across two appearances. The former Arizona State standout was even lit up by his former team last Sunday, surrendering five earned runs on 10 hits while lasting 3.1 innings.

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However, Williams has done well against Atlanta. Their current lineup is hitting just .117 with the righty on the bump, although it has been a small sample size. In three games versus the Braves, the 28-year-old owns a 2.77 ERA.

Braves Stats vs Williams

Player AB H HR RBI K AVG
Ronald Acuna Jr. 3 1 1 1 1 .333
Ozzie Albies 2 0 0 0 0 .000
Johan Camargo 1 0 0 0 1 .000
Travis D’Arnaud 3 0 0 0 0 .000
Freddie Freeman 4 0 0 0 2 .000
Ender Inciarte 7 2 0 0 1 .286
Marcell Ozuna 16 7 1 4 0 .438
Dansby Swanson 3 0 0 0 1 .000

The Braves bats have come alive over the last few games and they managed to hit around Zach Davies on Friday, scoring four of their five runs off him. Ozuna is coming in hot on Saturday and coincidentally enough, he’s had the most success against Williams.

Ronald Acuna Jr, who’s enjoyed a blazing start, went just 1-for-4 in game 1 but he did have a clutch two-run single. As a lineup, Atlanta struck out just seven times in the series opener at Wrigley. They’ve also scored an average of six runs across the last four contests, a drastic improvement over their first 10 games.

Best Bet

I really like how Ynoa is throwing the ball and his electric stuff will likely overwhelm Chicago’s cold offense. On the other hand, Atlanta is starting to come alive offensively and even though Williams has done well against them, Acuna and co. will do enough to get another win.

The right-hander hasn’t had his best stuff through two starts and one or two mistakes will likely hurt him with a Braves lineup full of studs.

Pick: Atlanta Braves -125


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