The Phillies have a tough challenge in front of them to end their losing streak.

The Phils are at Wrigley Field for a series against the Chicago Cubs, who have been a pretty chaotic team so far this season. The Cubs have been on the good side of the chaos lately with a 4-1 record in their last five games.

The Phillies and Cubs are both listed at -110 on the series line at DraftKings for the weekend set at the Friendly Confines.

I think there’s potential for the series to be wide open due to the pitching matchups and the potential for hitter-friendly conditions at Wrigley, which is one of the more wind-sensitive parks in the majors.

Neither team is throwing their two best arms in the series. Taijuan Walker is going up against Colin Rea on Friday, Ben Brown opposes Jesus Luzardo on Saturday, and Aaron Nola will go up against Jameson Taillon on Sunday night.


It’s actually a huge surprise that Friday’s pitching matchup has the lowest combined ERA of the three games. Walker and Rea, who have both been hittable in their careers, have ERAs under 2.30.

Rea’s been one of the biggest surprises in the entire National League. He hasn’t allowed more than one earned run in his five appearances. He also hasn’t gotten past the fifth inning in any of those starts.

Walker’s allowed five earned runs in his four starts and four of those runs came in one start against the Giants.

The combination of the two surprising starts with rain in the forecast and wind blowing in from left field puts the under, especially the first five under, in play for Friday’s matinee.

DraftKings has a No Sweat Home Run bet, which I would use on another game on Friday’s slate, as well as a four-leg parlay or SGP boost and three live profit boosts for Friday’s MLB games.

BetMGM has a Home Run Odds boost token for Friday as well. FanDuel has a Same Game Parlay boost available and bet365 has a 30 percent profit boost.

I’d look into using the under as part of those Pennsylvania sports betting boosts given the conditions and early-season form of Friday’s starting hurlers.

The Phillies’ biggest edge is in Saturday’s matchup. Luzardo has an ERA two points lower compared to Brown and the young Chicago hurler has been prone to walks and earned run concessions. He walked eight batters in his last two starts and let up 11 earned runs in 21.2 innings.

Who knows what we’re going to get out of Sunday and Nola’s start. He’s had to battle in each of his five starts. He’s allowed at least five hits in every appearance and he’s let up multiple home runs in three of those five games.

Taillon’s allowed fewer hits in his starts, but he’s only had one start in which he didn’t give up a home run.

The most notable batter-versus-pitcher histories of the series come on Sunday. Most of the Phillies’ top bats have favorable numbers against Taillon, while Dansby Swanson has three home runs in 60 at-bats versus Nola.

The over in Sunday’s game seems like the easiest lock to predict at the start of the series.