<p>Fantasy meets reality when the Cubs and Reds play the annual Field of Dreams game in that Iowa cornfield Thursday night. Veteran lefty Drew Smyly gets the start for the Cubbies here against fellow southpaw Nick Lodolo for Cincinnati.</p>
<p>How are we playing this game with our <b>free baseball betting pick</b>?</p>
<h2>MLB Betting Odds </h2>
<p>Thursday's baseball betting lines opened this game at right around a pick 'em, with an over/under of nine runs. Early betting action then slid Cincy into a -115 favorite.</p>
<h2>Cubs-Reds MLB Betting Preview </h2>
<p>Chicago just took two of three games from Washington, winning Wednesday's series rubber match 4-2. The Cubs would have swept that series if they hadn't blown a late lead in Tuesday's game.</p>
<p>Just before that, Chicago took two of three games against Miami. So the Cubs are 4-2 over their last six games.</p>
<p>Cincinnati, meanwhile, just got swept three games at the Mets by a combined score of 21-5. But just before that, the Reds took two of three from Milwaukee, and just before that, they took two of three from the Marlins. Going back a bit further, Cincy is 6-5 over its last 11 games.</p>
<p>At 45-64 and 44-66 overall, respectively, the Cubs and Reds are basically just playing out the string on this season. But they'll play to win Thursday night.</p>
<p>Chicago leads the season series with Cincinnati four games to three.</p>
<p>In the first MLB game played at the Field of Dreams last year, the White Sox beat the Yankees 9-8. The teams combined to hit eight home runs that night.</p>
<h2>Thursday's Pitching Match-Up</h2>
<p><a class="advblue"href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/pitcherlog/475041&quot; title="Nick Lodolo Pitching Game Logs">Rookie Lodolo</a> is 2/9 on quality starts this season but two for his last three. Last Saturday, he gave up three runs on four hits and four walks through 4 2/3 innings against Milwaukee, although Cincinnati won that game 7-5. And over his two starts previous to that, he held the Orioles and Miami to three runs - just one earned - and nine hits through 12 innings, with four walks and 16 strikeouts.</p>
<p>The Reds are 6-3 with Lodolo this season, although that's probably a game or two better than it should be, based on his performances.</p>
<p>This will be Lodolo's first career start against the Cubs.</p>
<p><a class="advblue" href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/pitcherlog/40270&quot; title="Dew Smyly Pitching Game Stats">Smyly </a>is just 2/14 on quality starts this year but also two for his last three. Last Saturday, he held the Marlins scoreless on five hits through 6 2/3 innings of a 4-0 Chicago victory. And over his last three starts, he's allowed six ER and 16 hits through 16 2/3 innings, with three walks against 13 whiffs.</p>
<p>The Cubs are 5-9 with Smyly this season, and that's about what they should be.</p>
<p>Over his last three starts against Cincinnati, two last year while with Atlanta, and one earlier this season, Smyly allowed six runs and 12 hits through 17 2/3 innings. Thanks to some poor run support, his teams lost two of those three games.</p>
<h2>Splits With the Sticks</h2>
<p>Chicago is batting .228 against left-handed pitching this season, with a .298 team OBP and a .398 team slugging percentage. The Cubs have also scored a total of just 26 runs over their last ten games.</p>
<p>Cincinnati is slashing .247/.324/.391 against left-handed pitching. The Reds have also scored a total of just 25 runs over their last ten games.</p>
<h2>The Bullpens</h2>
<p>The Cincinnati bullpen owns an ML-worst 5.07 ERA this season, along with an ML-worst 1.44 WHIP.</p>
<p>The Chicago pen owns a 4.05 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP.<br />
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<span style="font-size:16px; color:#008000;">Get more details:</span> <a href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/matchup/1600691">Cubs vs. Reds 8/11/22 Betting Stats</a>
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<h2>MLB Betting Trends</h2>
<p>The Cubs are 11-20 against left-handed starters this season.</p>
<p>The Reds are 14-20 against left-handed starters.</p>
<h2>Totals Report </h2>
<ul>
<li>The Under is 56-47 in Cubs games this season.</li>
<li>The Over is 54-53 in Reds games.</li>
<li>The Over is 5-2 in Cubs-Reds games this season.</li>
</ul>
<p>Free MLB Pick</p>
<p>We give Smyly a slight edge in the pitching match-up, and Chicago owns the better bullpen. Meanwhile, neither team is scoring much as of late. From there, the Cubs are actually playing some decent ball as of late, while Cincinnati just got swept three games. And we can't get that Reds bullpen ERA out of our minds. So we're going with the Cubbies for our free baseball pick for Thursday night.</p>