Its a Paul Skenes Thursday. Its May 1 and Skenes and the Pirates (12-19) and the Cubs (18-13) wrap up a series in Pittsburgh.
Colin Rea is slated to take the mound for Chicago against Skenes for Pittsburgh.
These teams have split the first two games of this series with the Bucs winning yesterday, 4-3. Andrew McCutchen drove in a pair of runs to pace the attack for Pittsburgh.
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 Cubs at Pirates
- Date: Thursday, May 1, 2025
- Time: 12:35PM EST
- Site: PNC Park
- City: Pittsburgh, PA
- Network/Streaming: MARQ, SNP
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 Cubs at the Pirates
The latest odds as of Thursday:
- Moneyline: Cubs (+134), Pirates (-159)
- Spread: Pirates -1.5
- Total: 7.0 runs
Probable starting pitchers for Cubs at Pirates
- Pitching matchup for May 1, 2025: Colin Rea vs. Paul Skenes
- Cubs: Colin Rea (1-0, 0.96 ERA)
Last outing: 4/25 vs. Philadelphia – 5IP, 0ER, 3H, 2BB, 7Ks - Pirates: Paul Skenes (3-2, 2.39 ERA)
Last outing: 4/25 at Dodgers – 6.1IP, 0ER, 5H, 0BB, 9Ks
- Cubs: Colin Rea (1-0, 0.96 ERA)
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Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Cubs at Pirates
- The Cubs have won 4 of their last 5 road games against teams with losing records
- The Under is 4-0-1 in the Cubs’ last 5 matchups against NL Central teams
- Kyle Tucker is in a funk with just 2 hits in his last 22 ABs (.091)
- Paul Skenes has struck out 39 opposing batters in 37.2 innings
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 tonight’s game between the Cubs and the Pirates
Rotoworld 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.
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 Thursday’s game between the Cubs and the Pirates:
- Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play on the Moneyline.
- Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Chicago Cubs at +1.5.
- Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 7.0.
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)
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