Cubs Break Giants’ Streak with Stunning Five-Run Victory—What Sparked the Turnaround?

Isn’t it something how, just as we’re gearing up for a blitz of epic soccer showdowns, the U.S. Open’s on fire, and football’s practically knocking on the door, baseball insists on sticking around every single day for the foreseeable future? Today’s Cubs vs. Giants clash at 9:45 ET might just sneak under the radar amid all the chaos—but don’t let that fool you. The Cubs, sitting a solid 20 games above .500, are cozy in the playoff mix, while the Giants, who made a jaw-dropping move to snag Rafael Devers, are battling a midseason swoon that’s got fans biting their nails. With Colin Rea taking the mound for Chicago and Carson Whisenhunt pitching for San Francisco, expect a rollercoaster of innings where neither side feels safe just yet. So, who really holds the edge as the dust settles on another wild week in sports? Let’s dig in. LEARN MORE.

Cubs vs. Giants, 9:45 ET

This is a big week for the sporting world. We have a ton of soccer games around the world with some very big teams and leagues in full swing, we have the US Open, we are a week away from the NFL returning, the NBA and NHL are both gearing up for camps next month, and College Football takes center stage this weekend as it returns. That doesn’t mention that we still have baseball on the docket today and every day for the next month plus. Let’s enjoy these moments while they last, and we are going to take on the Cubs and Giants game.

The Cubs are 20 games above .500 and still in control of their own destiny. At the All-Star Break, I gave out a play at +1300 for them to miss the playoffs, and that will likely be a loser. They will either win the first Wild Card spot or they are going to finally overtake the Brewers and win the division. Of course, a disaster could still strike, but as of right now, I’d say they are arguably the most comfortable of all the Wild Card contenders. There has been a lot of talk about Kyle Tucker and his lack of success, but he seems to be doing better over the past couple of games. Perhaps it is due to not hitting at Wrigley where he has struggled a bit this season. Today, the Cubs send out Colin Rea to the mound. He is 10-5 for the season with a 3.96 ERA, and a 1.29 WHIP. Rea has been decent on the road this season with a 3.81 ERA, but opponents are hitting almost .274 against him in opposing stadiums. Most of Rea’s starts last around five innings. He has a couple of quality starts sprinkled in there, but most of the time he only goes five innings. At his best, he is limiting the walks and hits. At his worst, he is giving up a lot of one or the other. He did face the Giants earlier in the season, allowing four earned runs over five innings on eight hits. 

The Giants are an interesting story to me. This season they were really successful to start the year, and they were surprising most of the league. Then they did something more shocking than almost anything any other team has done this year by going out and acquiring Rafael Devers. Everyone knew that Devers was going to be traded at the deadline, but the Giants scooped him up prior to that and didn’t even need to get into a major bidding war. The bad thing is that the Giants were around 10 games above .500 when they acquired him, and are now four games under. Like they have been the past couple of years, they have been a very streaky team in the second half. They have had losing streaks of four or more games four times since the All-Star Break. They are 12-21 since the All-Star Break. Today, they send out Carson Whisenhunt to the mound in hopes of getting a winning streak started. Whisenhunt is 1-1 for the year with a 4.91 ERA and 1.42 WHIP. He only has 18 innings pitched this year over four starts, but the home starts have been worse than the road ones. 

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the game go over the 8.5 total. Neither pitcher is likely to get a shutout or post even consistent zeroes on the board. I think that Rea will win the game for the Cubs, but I prefer to play just the first five innings instead of the full game. I think that Whisenhunt is going to keep struggling a bit here and will back the Cubs through five. 

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