Royals at Cubs Prediction: Odds, expert picks, starting pitchers, betting trends and stats for July 23

NBC Sports

3 days ago

Its Wednesday, July 23 and the Royals (49-53) are in Chicago to close out their series with the Cubs (60-41).
Seth Lugo is slated to take the mound for Kansas City against Colin Rea for Chicago.
The series is even at one game apiece following Chicago's 6-0 shutout of KC last night. Matthew Boyd threw seven scoreless innings to improve to 11-3 on the season and five different Cubs drove in runs to lead a balanced attack.
Lets dive into the matchup and find a sweat or two.
We've got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch tipoff, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game details & how to watch Royals at Cubs
Date: Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Time: 2:20PM EST
Site: Wrigley Field
City: Chicago, IL
Network/Streaming: FDSNKC, MARQ
Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.
Odds for the Royals at the Cubs
The latest odds as of Wednesday:
Moneyline: Royals (+120), Cubs (-142)
Spread: Cubs -1.5
Total: 10.0 runs
Probable starting pitchers for Royals at Cubs
Pitching matchup for July 23, 2025: Seth Lugo vs. Colin Rea
Royals: Seth Lugo (6-5, 2.94 ERA)
Last outing: July 18 at Miami - 7.50 ERA, 5 Earned Runs Allowed, 8 Hits Allowed, 0 Walks, and 5 StrikeoutsCubs: Colin Rea (8-3, 3.80 ERA)
Last outing: July 18 vs, Boston - 1.80 ERA, 1 Earned Runs Allowed, 4 Hits Allowed, 4 Walks, and 5 Strikeouts
Royals: Seth Lugo (6-5, 2.94 ERA)
Last outing: July 18 at Miami - 7.50 ERA, 5 Earned Runs Allowed, 8 Hits Allowed, 0 Walks, and 5 Strikeouts
Cubs: Colin Rea (8-3, 3.80 ERA)
Last outing: July 18 vs, Boston - 1.80 ERA, 1 Earned Runs Allowed, 4 Hits Allowed, 4 Walks, and 5 Strikeouts
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Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Royals at Cubs
The Cubs are 7-3 in their last 10 home games
The Total has cashed the under in 29 of the Royals' 52 road games this season
Nico Hoerner is 7-20 since the All-Star Break
Dansby Swanson is 5-12 over his last 3 games
If you're looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
Expert picks & predictions for today's game between the Royals and the Cubs
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Wednesday's game between the Royals and the Cubs:
Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Chicago Cubs on the Moneyline.
Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Kansas City Royals at +1.5.
Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the under on the Game Total of 10.0.
Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC
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Jay Croucher (@croucherJD)
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Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas)