Its Friday, August 15 and the Pirates (51-71) are in Chicago to open a three-game series against the Cubs (68-52).
The Bucs have yet to announce their starter for tonight’s game. Colin Rea takes the ball for Chicago.
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The Pirates had Thursday off to lick their wounds following a three-game beatdown at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers. Pirates’ pitching allowed 33 runs while the offense scratched out just six runs in the series.
The Cubs concluded their series with Toronto north of the border yesterday with a 2-1 loss. Matthew Boyd went seven innings and allowed but two hits and two runs but it was not enough as Max Scherzer was just that much better. Chicago now sits eight games back of Milwaukee in the National League Central Division but remains 4.5 games up in the race for a Wild Card spot.
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 the first pitch, 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 Pirates at Cubs
Date: Friday, August 15, 2025
Network/Streaming: SNP, MARQ, MLBN
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 Pirates at the Cubs
The latest odds as of Friday:
Moneyline: Pirates (+162), Cubs (-196)
Probable starting pitchers for Pirates at Cubs
Pitching matchup for August 15, 2025: TBD vs. Colin Rea
Cubs: Colin Rea (9-5, 4.09 ERA)
Last outing: August 9 at St. Louis – 1.50 ERA, 1 Earned Runs Allowed, 3 Hits Allowed, 2 Walks, and 6 Strikeouts
Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type!
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Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Pirates at Cubs
The Cubs have a winning record (9-6) in home games against divisional opponents this season
Each of the Cubs’ last 4 home games against the Pirates have stayed under the Total
The Cubs have failed to cover in their last 4 games against the Pirates
Kyle Tucker was 0-11 in the series against Toronto
Nico Hoerner was 4-12 against Toronto
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 Pirates and the CubsRotoworld Best Bet
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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.
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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 Friday’s game between the Pirates 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 Pittsburgh Pirates at +1.5.
Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the under on the Game Total of 9.0.
Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC
Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff:
Jay Croucher (@croucherJD)
Drew Dinsick (@whale_capper)
Vaughn Dalzell (@VmoneySports)
Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas)