Friday gives us an NL Central rivalry matchup between the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds. The Cubs are leading the division, and they look like one of the elite teams in baseball right now. They are baseball’s highest scoring team, and they are getting enough pitching to make that stick. The Reds, on the other hand, go through extreme peaks and valleys, and right now they are doing the thing where they don’t score at all. They got skunked by the lowly Pirates in their last two games, and Skenes wasn’t involved. They will break out again at some point, but there’s no reason to lay hard-earned cash down that it will happen Friday. Give me the Cubs to win this game.

We are getting good odds on this one because Hunter Greene is starting for the Reds. He has missed a couple starts with a groin injury—the arm is fine, notably—and he might be on a bit of a pitch count. Matthew Boyd will take the ball for the Cubs, and while he is nothing special, the Reds are near the bottom of the league against lefties. Among the issues there is that it turns Elly De La Cruz around to the right side, which is his less productive side. Sure, Greene is the better pitcher, but the Cubs are still the far better offense, and Cincy is in one of their no-scoring slumps. I’ll take the Cubs.