Cubs are NL Central leaders a month into regular season

May 3, 2025 by Staff

The Chicago Cubs have won their last two, including a 10-0 victory over the Brewers in Milwaukee on Friday to begin the weekend series. The victory boosted the Cubbies' record to 20-13 to lead the Cincinnati Reds by 2 games going into Saturday's action.

They've cooled off a little bit with a 6-4 record over the last 10 games. They are coming off a 2-1 series win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, following a 2-1 series loss to the Phillies. They took two one-run wins over the Dodgers at Wrigley before hosting the Phillies series and traveling to Pittsburgh.

It has been hot hitting that has overtaken their so-so pitching staff that ranks 23rd in ERA .

The Cubs lead all major league teams with 202 runs scored, an average of 6.12 per game, but they only rank 15th in runs allowed at 4.24 per game for 140 total.

At 1.48 homers per game, they rank 4th.

The Cubs, as a team, are batting .266, a fraction higher than the .265 clip of the New York Yankees who are paced by Aaron Judge's ridiculous .431 average.

However, Judge does not lead in home runs. That total goes to Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh with 12 while Judge has 11.

Designated hitter Seiya Suzuki has 9 bombs for the Cubs to tie for 5th, while left fielder Ian Happ has 9 doubles and ties for 8th in hits with 39.

Odds for the Cubs are now +2000 to win the World Series to tie for 8th-best with the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers. They are favored (-280) to capture their division with the Reds in second at +550.

In the preseason, they were at +3700 (tied for 13th) to win it all, and +210 (2nd place) to take the NL Central crown.

As for making it to the World Series as the NL representative, the "lovable losers" now have the fifth-best odds at +1000, trailing (in order), the LA Dodgers (+140), the Mets (+500), the Phillies (+700) and the Braves (+800).

Currently, the Dodgers are on top of the MLB heap with a 22-10 record and a .688 winning clip. But that only narrowly leads the Mets who are 22-11 (.677) and leading the NL East. The Phillies are 18-14 (.563) to trail the Mets by 3.5 while the Braves are 14-17 (.452).

Game two against the Brewers is tonight at 7:10 ET with game three tomorrow at 2:10. Milwaukee is 16-17 to trail the Cubs by 4 games.

Among the best prop bets at FanDuel.com for today's Cubs-Brewers game are over the 3.5 runs (-150) for Milwaukee, and Jackson Chuorlo to record 2+ total bases (-105) for the home team.

Chicago returns to Wrigley on Monday for a 3-game set against the San Francisco Giants before visiting the Mets after a Thursday travel day.

The Cubs had 108 seasons between their first World Series title in 1908 and their last in 2016. They haven't made the playoffs since the Covid-shortened season in 2020 when they lost the National League Wild Card series to the Miami Marlins, two games to none.