Cubs' Pitching Splits Suggest Chicago Could Be Solid Bet at Wrigley Field This Season

Mike Esposito
Pittsburgh Pirates  v Chicago Cubs
Pittsburgh Pirates v Chicago Cubs / Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
facebooktwitterreddit

Wrigley Field is known as one of the most hitter-friendly parks in Major League Baseball. Just don't tell that to the Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks and Cole Hamels any time soon.

The top-3 starters in the Chicago Cubs' pitching rotation have been absolutely lights out when playing within the friendly confines of Wrigley Field, sporting a 2.42 ERA (Lester), 1.69 ERA (Hendricks) and 2.58 ERA (Hamels) at home this year, respectively.

The disparity in these splits is certainly something worth keeping an eye on, especially once Hamels and Hendricks return from their respective stints on the injured list (IR). Unfortunately for Chicago, home dominance doesn't extend completely through the rotation.

Jose Quintana and Yu Darvish have been nowhere near as dominant when they toe the rubber at Wrigley, sporting a 4.17 ERA and a 6.23 ERA at home this year, respectively. Quintana hasn't been any better on the road (4.26 ERA) either, but pitching outside of Chicago has been a surprising bright spot for Darvish.

Despite these struggles in his home park, the 32-year-old righty has been surprisingly good on the road, owning a 2-1 record with a 3.59 ERA in eight starts made outside of Wrigley this year.

There's still plenty of baseball left to be played this year, and these lines are bound to change in some way. But for now, the disparity in pitching splits among the Cubs' starters is definitely a trend worth noting.


Join FanDuel Sportsbook Today. New users get a risk-free bet up to $500. Join Now.


Mike Esposito is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Mike Esposito also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username espo6891. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel. 

facebooktwitterreddit