Dan Johnson takes you through his preview, prediction, and best bet for today’s baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Angels.

The air is cold enough to thicken contact, the wind has a say in every deep fly, and the rhythm of the game tends to compress rather than sprawl. The Angels arrive at 3–3 having already played a 2–0 game in this series; the Cubs sit at 2–3 and are still searching for a clean offensive identity through the first week. With two left-handers—Yusei Kikuchi and Matthew Boyd—on the mound, today’s mission should just be about actually turning baserunners into runs in a game that resists easy scoring. Nothing fancy. Below is my preview, prediction, and pick for today’s baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Angels.

Here’s how I’ll play it. I’ll be pumping out these predictions for individual games all season, with plenty of coverage here on DraftKings Network. Follow my handle @dansby_edits for more betting plays.

Los Angeles has the louder early offensive line at .217/.346/.399 with a .745 OPS, ten homers, and 36 walks in six games—an offense built on traffic and occasional lift. Chicago’s .213/.316/.350 (.666 OPS) through five games is flatter, with fewer extra-base hits and less consistent pressure. But the more interesting split is under the surface: Chicago’s 2025 profile against left-handed pitching—.251/.318/.433, .751 OPS—suggests a lineup designed to survive this exact matchup, while the Angels’ 2025 split against lefties hovered closer to a .701 OPS. That is the tension point. Add in run-prevention shape and the game tightens further: the Cubs’ staff has allowed a 1.18 WHIP through five games, while the Angels sit at 1.53, yet Los Angeles has still limited damage to a 3.53 ERA. Traffic exists on both sides; clean conversion remains elusive.

Chicago’s offense is currently uneven. Ian Happ’s early Statcast profile is loud—north of 50% hard-hit, a barrel rate pushing into the high-20s—and Alex Bregman’s .190 average hides a 95 mph average exit velocity with a .393 xwOBA, the kind of underlying shape that usually turns into production. Pete Crow-Armstrong still matters here too, even if the first week hasn’t fully opened up for him yet, because his 2025 season—31 homers, 29 steals, 95 RBI—reminds you how quickly his game can turn one mistake into instant pressure. Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson give the Cubs contact and structure, but not much early lift, which is why so many of Chicago’s innings have felt like drafts rather than finished songs.

On the other side, Mike Trout is already operating at a different altitude—1.100+ OPS, barrel rate around 25%, and a .500+ expected wOBA—but he is one bat inside a lineup that still depends on accumulation more than eruption. Nolan Schanuel’s .280/.379/.520 start and strong xwOBA underline that identity: on-base presence, moderate damage, and innings that ask for multiple hits rather than one swing. Zach Neto belongs in that frame as well. Even if the full offensive surge has not arrived yet, he is still the table-setting shortstop this lineup wants in front of Trout. His blend of contact, speed, and occasional pull-side pop gives the Angels another way to manufacture pressure without needing a three-run swing.

Angels vs. Cubs pick, best bet

Chicago’s 2025 splits against lefties is a legitimate baseline for how this roster is built, and Boyd’s 2025 line (3.21 ERA, 1.09 WHIP over 179+ innings) is cleaner than Kikuchi’s 3.99/1.42. If the Cubs’ right-handed core starts lifting the ball, or if Boyd settles into last year’s command-and-contact suppression profile, this game can tilt toward a more balanced scoring environment. And Wrigley, even in the cold, is never fully predictable—one inning of mislocated fastballs can still unwind a tight script.

But the context keeps pulling the game back toward compression. The weather today is deep-dish suppressive, with temperatures around 40°F and wind patterns that have already played into a 2–0 result earlier in the series. That matters when neither offense is currently built on relentless slug. Chicago has already shown the shape of a lineup that can strand runners—hitless in four chances with runners in scoring position in Tuesday’s loss—and their early-season line lacks consistent extra-base lift. Kikuchi’s profile, meanwhile, is stable enough to trust in this environment: a mid-3s to 4.00 ERA arm with league-average contact suppression metrics (.327 xwOBA allowed in 2025) who have multiple paths to keep scoring muted. Add in bullpen usage that is at least moderately taxed on the Cubs’ side after multi-inning relief work earlier in the week, and this starts to look like a game where innings drift rather than break open.

That’s the shape this lands on. Chicago just needs to remain what it has been through five games: a lineup that can touch base without consistently cashing those opportunities in. Four runs requires sequencing, extra-base damage, or a true mistake inning. In this weather, against this profile, that is a higher bar than it looks.

Cubs team total under 3.5 (-135). The way it dies is straightforward: Chicago’s right-handed core taps into its 2025 lefty-split ceiling and strings together one crooked inning, but all signs still point to a game that stays narrow, deliberate, and resistant to lift.

Final score projection: Angels 3, Cubs 2.

Best bet: Cubs TT u3.5 total runs (-130)

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