Cubs vs Rangers Odds, Pick | MLB Opening Day Prediction

Here's everything you need to know about Cubs vs Rangers on Thursday, March 28 — including odds and a prediction.

Cubs vs Rangers odds have the Rangers as -125 favorites on the moneyline while the over/under is set at 8.5 total runs. The Opening Day pitching matchup is Justin Steele vs Nathan Eovaldi, with the latter being one of my Cubs vs Rangers picks.

The Rangers return most of the cast from their World Series-winning squad from 2023, while the Cubs had a strange offseason, flirting with big moves but landing pretty much with the same squad — Cody Bellinger, notably, is back in the fold — that was very much a playoff-level team by run differential but not a playoff team in the real world.

Both teams are mostly healthy coming out of spring training though Patrick Wisdom and Nathaniel Lowe are likely to be sidelined. Corey Seager, however, looks to be ready to start the season for Texas.

From a betting perspective, there's a couple of intriguing player prop options, so let's dig into each and get into my Cubs vs Rangers predictions.

For the Cubs, I'm eyeing Seiya Suzuki. The 29-year-old has had a very good debut to his MLB career since coming to the United States in 2022, but it's gone a bit under the radar. He has a career 122 wRC+, and he appears to be improving continually.

Last season in particular, he had a 105 wRC+ in the first half — solid! But he really took off in the second half, with a 149 wRC+ that ranked 13th among batters with as many plate appearances.

And not to pay any real attention to spring training, but it doesn't appear that he's slowed down at all, with a .459 batting average and six home runs combining for a comical 1.593 OPS in 15 games this spring.

Suzuki also handles splitters well, ranking seventh in all of baseball against the pitch, per FanGraphs Pitch Type Value stats. That's good news in a matchup with Eovaldi, who relies on the pitch as much as almost any starter in baseball. His 27.6 percent splitter rate was fifth among pitchers with at least 80 IP last season.

There are several ways to play Suzuki, but my favorite is over 1.5 total bases at -105. I'll likely also be looking at his H+R+RBI and HR props based on the official weather report.

ESPN Bet is now another sportsbook option to maximize your Cubs vs. Rangers action. You can now use our ESPN BET promo code TANBONUS for a new user welcome.

The must-have app for MLB bettors

The best MLB betting scoreboard

Free picks from proven pros

Live win probabilities for your bets

DOWNLOAD NOW

For Texas, my favorite look is one that I'll be betting in all sorts of manners across teams this whole first month or so of the season — pitcher unders. With the colder weather and guys still in the process of stretching out their arms, looking towards a pitcher under is never a bad idea in March/April.

For Eovaldi, his strikeout prop, in particular, is interesting on Thursday.

The Cubs had a bottom-half strikeout rate against right-handed pitchers last season, and Wisdom was quite literally their highest K rate versus righties.

Eovaldi also isn't the K maven he used to be. His K/9 rate dropped for the fourth-straight season last year, and he cleared this 5.5 strikeout prop in only 10 of his 25 starts last season. There are a few shortened starts in there, but his strikeouts trended down all season regardless.

As of this writing, bettors can get Eovaldi under 5.5 strikeouts at even money at DraftKings.

I'll be on Suzuki Thursday, and inversely, I'll be fading Eovaldi, specifically his strikeout prop.

Pick: Seiya Suzuki Over 1.5 Total Bases | Nathan Eovaldi Under 5.5 Strikeouts