Baseball betting free picks every day at Oddsbay.com!  Up for Wednesday we’ve got an afternoon game between the Cubs and Astros and a nighttime game between the Dodgers and Giants.

HOUSTON ASTROS (MYERS) AT CHICAGO CUBS (LILLY) 11:20 AM PACIFIC

So what else is new?  The Cubs have lost a fortune at home this year (24-25 -11.3 units) which isn’t surprising since year in and year out they’re one of the most overvalued home teams in baseball.  You’d probably have had a better return on your investment throwing your money in the street over the past decade or so than betting on the Cubs at Wriggly Field.  Since 1997, the Cubs have a winning record at home (583-529) but they’ve cost sports betting enthusiasts a whopping -128.3 units of profit during that timeframe!

Houston isn’t much to write home about either, but their 18-30 road record is good for a small profit this season.  They hit LHP fairly well, and have turned a small profit against southpaws this year.  Ultimately, however, this is mostly a Chicago Cubs ‘go against’ play.  Cubs are 16-26 against their own division (-20.7 units) and 19-31 against teams with losing records (-23.8 units).  The Astros have taken 5 of the 8 meetings this year (+3.7 units) including 3 of 5 in Chicago.  Houston has won 8 of Brett Myers 10 lifetime starts against the Cubs and he’s pitched well of late while Ted Lilly has struggled.

PLAY HOUSTON (MYERS) +145 OVER CHICAGO CUBS (LILLY)

SAN FRANCISCO (ZITO) AT LA DODGERS (BILLINGSLEY)  7:10 PM PACIFIC

Dodgers blew a late game lead and lost to the Giants last night.  San Francisco remains one of the hottest teams in baseball at the moment, winning 8 of their last 10 games to pull ½ game behind second place Colorado and 4.5 games behind first place San Diego in the NL West.  Dodgers enter this game on a 6 game losing streak, and have been something of an inconsistent team all season.  We’re aware that the Dodgers have dominated their division rivals in head to head play this year (23-8 +15 units) while the Giants have struggled (11-20 -12 units) but we don’t see either trend sustaining itself throughout the rest of the season.  With the exception of cellar dwelling Arizona, there’s a lot of parity in the NL West and the good teams—particularly the Giants and Padres—look to be in it for the long haul.

The Giants’ pitching has been exceptional since the All Star break.  Today’s starter, Barry Zito, has put in competent work all year with a 3.51 ERA and more importantly the Giants have won 12 of his 19 starts.  The Dodgers have lost a lot of money against LHP this season (12-16 -9 units) and with the disheartening end to last night’s game this will be a tough spot for them to bounce back.  We’ll gladly take the Giants as road underdogs here.

PLAY SAN FRANCISCO (ZITO) +130 OVER LA DODGERS (BILLINGSLEY)

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