Ryan Dempster is having a good season, but good enought to lay 2-to-1 chalk? Not hardly. The Colorado Rockies are your afternoon ATM machine at Wrigley against the Cubs.
No one is referring to Ryan Dempster as Ryan Dumpster this season. At least yet. A shaky closer last season, Dempster has had eight quality starts for the Cubs this year.
But Dempster has been fortunate. The Cubs have scored a lot of runs for him. He's been pitching above his talent level.
The Rockies have lost five in a row and have multiple injuries. The Cubs have won five in a row. However, at better than two-to-one odds, Colorado is a play for me. I'm not sold on Dempster as this big of a favorite, plus the Cubs' two best relief pitchers have fatigue issues.
Closer Kerry Wood has pitched four of the last five days. He's thrown 31 pitches in the past two games combined. Setup man Carlos Marmol has pitched during the last two days, too. Dempster has an 8.42 ERA in seven lifetime starts versus Colorado.
Rockies starter Glendon Rusch is a veteran lefty who pitched for the Cubs from 2004-2006. Because of erratic wind conditions at Wrigley Field, which can bring a lot of randomness into the equation, it's usually not a good idea to lay a huge price like this.
Free Pick: Rockies +210