Brewers vs Cubs Picks and Odds – July 25

• Cubs starter Yu Darvish makes his 2020 debut against the Brewers, who send Corbin Burnes to the mound on July 25th at 1:05pm ET
• Chicago won Friday’s opener, 3-0, over Milwaukee at Wrigley Field
• Check out the odds, analysis and a pick for the game in the article below

The Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers continue their NL Central clash on Saturday, with Yu Darvish and Corbin Burnes facing off on the mound for a 1:05 p.m. EST start at Wrigley Field.

Milwaukee Brewers vs Chicago Cubs Odds

Odds taken July 25.

The Cubs opened as -138 favorites, but see themselves become slightly bigger -152 favorites ahead of first pitch. You can see the Brewers vs Cubs odds history in our matchup page.

Darvish Dominates Milwaukee

It’s not a terribly large sample size, but the Cubs have really liked what they’ve seen from Darvish against the Brewers. In five career starts, he has a 1.67 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 27 innings.

#OTD last year, Yu Darvish picked up his first win at Wrigley Field as a Cub.

Final stat line: 6 IP, 2 H, 7 K. He struck out Yasiel Puig three times. pic.twitter.com/JPGk77n7Vb

— Andy Martínez (@amartinez_11) July 17, 2020

Darvish has been even better of late, having allowed only one run in two starts last season (0.90 ERA), with 15 strikeouts in 10 innings. As you see below, MVP candidate Christian Yelich is the only player who’s done notable damage against Darvish.

Brewers Career Stats vs Darvish

Darvish will use backup Victor Caratini as his personal catcher this year, which has the benefit of giving Darvish extra comfort and inserts a player into the lineup whose only at-bat against Corbin Burnes resulted in a home run.

https://twitter.com/MLBastian/status/1282740450294726659?s=20

It’s understandable that pitchers would be ahead of hitters in the stages of the season, and Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks proved that Friday with a three-hit shutout against the Brewers.

Milwaukee @Brewers’ Day Off. pic.twitter.com/uHIi08kmyK

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 25, 2020

There is certainly reason to believe Darvish, a four-time All-Star who is baseball’s all-time leader in career strikeouts-per-nine (11.1), can follow suit.

Can Cubs Wake Up vs Burnes?

As great as Hendricks was for the Cubs on Friday, Chicago’s offense didn’t muster much (three runs, five hits) against Brandon Woodruff.

They might have an easier time against Saturday’s starter, Corbin Burnes, who has suffered a 7.36 ERA in six outings (one start) in his career against the Cubs). In 2019, Burnes allowed six hits, four walks and seven runs in 6 2/3 innings against Chicago.

Cubs Career Stats vs Burnes

The rotation isn’t Milwaukee’s strength, which is why Burnes is serving as their No. 2 starter right now. The 25-year-old righty isn’t fully developed — or so Milwaukee hopes — as evidenced by his -1.5 career WAR and 6.10 career ERA. Saturday will be Burnes’ fifth career start in the majors.

Safe to say, Darvish vs. Burnes is an absolute mismatch.

Bet the Cubs

The season just started, which means it’s difficult to grasp any team or hitter trends yet. The easiest and most reasonable element of the game to measure is the starting pitchers.

.@ARizzo44 OUT. pic.twitter.com/89WTyx3Vnb

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 25, 2020

And, as we just stated, this one is a real lopsided affair on paper. Darvish is a veteran with several years of strong output, including polished numbers against the Brewers. Burnes’ situation is quite the opposite.

Pick: Chicago Cubs, -150