Chicago Cubs vs Cincinnati Reds Prediction & Betting Tips - MLB Spring Training

Prediction published on 26/02/2024, 15:50  by Matthew Newman | Modified on 27/02/2024 at 07:05 in Baseball Predictions

An all National League Central matchup as the Chicago Cubs host the Cincinnati Reds in a Spring Training contest on Tuesday. Craig Counsell is the new Cubs manager, coming over from the Milwaukee Brewers which will make for some interesting inter-division games during the season. Cody Bellinger was the National League's comeback player of the year in 2023 and has recently put pen to paper on a three-year contract. He led the team in home runs last year so he is a key signing. Justin Steele was the star of the pitching staff last year, finishing 5th in the Cy Young voting. The big question will be whether he can back it up with a similar campaign.

This is the 7th season at the helm of the Reds for David Bell and he has finally managed to get the team into a good place. They were 10 games over .500 at the end of July, the last third of the season was a little disappointing for them but they showed enough to think that they are capable of making a run at the playoffs this time around. There are not a lot of household names in the lineup at present but there is a lot of youth and they will become better known this year. Elly De La Cruz has the potential to do big things at the plate while a full season from Frankie Montas on the mound would be interesting after his performances in 2019 and 2021 in Oakland. He is the veteran starting pitcher with Graham Ashcraft and Nick Lodolo both 26 with Andrew Abbott and Hunter Greene only 24.