{"id":362662,"date":"2025-08-11T15:08:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T19:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=362662"},"modified":"2025-08-11T15:08:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T19:08:25","slug":"cubs-vs-blue-jays-series-preview-august-12-14-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/cubs-vs-blue-jays-series-preview-august-12-14-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Cubs vs. Blue Jays series betting preview Aug. 12-14: Probable pitchers, ATS analysis and player trends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Back from an NL West road trip, the Toronto Blue Jays are home for a three-game series vs. the Chicago Cubs that begins Tuesday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Toronto (69-50) has been treading water a bit lately, but the club still owns the best record in the American League. Chicago (67-50) should present a tough test despite also slipping a bit in recent games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out our Cubs vs. Blue Jays preview for the Aug. 12-14 series, highlighting the starting pitching matchups, betting trends and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Cubs vs. Blue Jays preview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul id=\"block-10146156-2d6b-49a8-b097-37743fd550b5\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/sports-hub\/baseball\/mlb?utm_source=insights&amp;utm_medium=text_link&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=&amp;utm_campaign=sportsbook_mlb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Full MLB betting markets<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/news\/article\/mlb-injury-report?utm_source=insights&amp;utm_medium=text_link&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=&amp;utm_campaign=injury_reports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>MLB injury report<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/mlb\/top-players\/hitting\/OPS-on-base_plus_slugging?utm_source=insights&amp;utm_medium=text_link&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=&amp;utm_campaign=stats_pages\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>MLB stats &amp; standings<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The Jays backed into a one-run win over the Dodgers on Sunday to avoid a sweep. And in doing so, they retained their four-game lead in the AL East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After a franchise-best 55 wins before the all-star break, Toronto has had some ups and downs in the second half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Offensively, the Jays are cruising with a league-best 150 wRC+. But on the pitching side, their 4.77 ERA ranks 25th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result is a 14-11 record that hasn&#8217;t allowed the team to pull away in the divisional standings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"cacheembed:115735\">Embed: #115735<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Cubs have fallen off the pace a bit in the NL Central, but this is still a title-hopeful team whose World Series odds (+1,600) aren&#8217;t much different from Toronto (+1,300).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chicago went 2-1 in its head-to-head series vs. Toronto in 2023 and &#8217;24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Starting pitcher matchups<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Aug. 12:<\/strong> RHP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/mlb\/ben_brown\/pitching-stats\">Ben Brown<\/a> (5-7, 6.04 ERA) vs. RHP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/mlb\/jose_berrios\/pitching-stats\">Jose Berrios<\/a> (8-4, 3.89 ERA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Brown is essentially a two-pitch pitcher (fastball, knuckle curve) who gives up a ton of hard contact. His 92.1 mph average exit velocity is the seventh-highest in the majors, and he&#8217;s in the bottom-15th percentile in both hard-hit rate and barrel rate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Though Toronto is 6-1 in Berrios&#8217; past seven starts, he&#8217;s not doing much to help his own cause. The righty has a 5.71 ERA in that seven-outing span. Also, the Cubs&#8217; active lineup is 26-for-78 (.333) against him with a .500 SLG.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Aug. 13:<\/strong> RHP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/mlb\/cade_horton\/pitching-stats\">Cade Horton<\/a> (6-3, 3.18 ERA) vs. RHP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/mlb\/kevin_gausman\/pitching-stats\">Kevin Gausman<\/a> (8-8, 3.85 ERA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Three years after being the No. 7 overall draft pick, Horton is finding success as a rookie. He&#8217;s prone to allowing plenty of hard contact (seventh-percentile barrel rate), but he wields a devastating changeup that has garnered far more strikeouts (14) than hits (four).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Like Berrios, Gausman has some rough numbers vs. the Cubs&#8217; lineup (.302 BA, .512 SLG in 98 plate appearances). But unlike Berrios, the recent numbers from Gausman are quite encouraging: 2.54 ERA and 9.2 K\/9 in his past eight starts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Aug. 14:<\/strong> LHP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/mlb\/matthew_boyd\/pitching-stats\">Matthew Boyd<\/a> (11-5, 2.45 ERA) vs. RHP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/mlb\/max_scherzer\/pitching-stats\">Max Scherzer<\/a> (2-2, 4.21 ERA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Formerly a Jays farmhand, Boyd has fashioned a decent career for himself that included a maiden voyage to the All-Star Game this season. The 34-year-old lefty has held his opponents scoreless in five of his past eight starts and owns a 2.17 FIP in that span.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Scherzer looks strong right now, completing at least 6.0 innings in four of his past five starts. He also touched 96 mph on the radar gun last time out. Though he hasn&#8217;t worked a scoreless outing yet, Scherzer has allowed three or fewer runs in eight of nine starts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who&#8217;s hot and who&#8217;s not<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1B):<\/strong> Vladdy is in freight-train mode right now, just like he was after the all-star break last season. This year, he currently ranks third in second-half wRC+ (212) with as many walks as strikeouts. Amazingly, his actual SLG (.488) is still well behind his xSLG (.547), per Baseball Savant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alejandro Kirk (C):<\/strong> Given how well Toronto&#8217;s offence has performed as a whole in recent weeks, it&#8217;s tough to find someone who&#8217;s struggling. But Kirk, who missed a week on the injured list, is the most logical candidate. He&#8217;s 4-for-22 (.182) with zero extra-base hits in six games since returning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Matt Shaw (3B):<\/strong> Look out, Shaw is bringing the laser show up north. The rookie has homered in three of his past four games, adding to what has been a superb second half. Shaw has a .328\/.349\/.770 slash line in 20 post-all-star games, though his 84.4 mph average exit velocity on the season (first percentile) clashes with this power surge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Pete Crow-Armstrong (DH):<\/strong> PCA was given Ohtani a run for his money in the NL MVP race, but that&#8217;s a thing of the past now. The speedy outfielder is still a menace with his glove, but he&#8217;s gone ice cold offensively: 3-for-33 (.091) with 13 Ks and zero walks this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Cubs vs. Blue Jays preview: Betting trends<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Toronto has the 2nd-best run line record in MLB (69-50, 58.0%).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Cubs have the 10th-worst run line record (55-62, 47.0%).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Overs are 30-25-4 when the Cubs are on the road (6th in MLB).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Overs are 66-48-5 in Blue Jays games (1st in MLB).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In the Jays&#8217; past 14 games, overs are 10-3-1.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Guerrero is 12-7 vs. his total bases prop since July 22. He&#8217;s averaging 3.0 bases per game in that span.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Michael Busch has been one of the Cubs&#8217; best hitters this year, with a .500 SLG on the season. But in his past 19 games, he only has a .250 SLG to go with 23 Ks and nine hits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back from an NL West road trip, the Toronto Blue Jays are home for a three-game series vs. the Chicago Cubs that begins Tuesday night. Toronto (69-50) has been treading water a bit lately, but the club still owns the best record in the American League. Chicago (67-50) should present a tough test despite also [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":362693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-362662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-mlb-betting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cubs vs. Blue Jays preview for Aug. 12-14 series | NorthStar Bets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check our Cubs vs. Blue Jays preview for the Aug. 12-14 series. 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