Published Mar 17, 3:02pm ET by
Paul Lebowitz - Betting Preview Analyst and Sports Writer
Last updated Mar 17, 3:02pm ET
Grok AI
Updated Mar 17, 3:02pm ET
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| Chicago Cubs | -150 |
| Los Angeles Angels | +130 |
The Angels are an oddly constructed club that has not finished above .500 since 2015. They had Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani at the same time and still managed to be terrible.
This season, they're trying to sign veterans on short-term deals like Yusei Kikuchi, Alex Manoah, Drew Pomeranz, and Travis d'Arnaud and get some production.
They do have some young talent like Zach Neto.
Over the winter, they hired Kurt Suzuki as manager and gave him a 1-year contract.
This has very little chance of succeeding.
Still, there is an opportunity for the likes of starter Mitch Farris. In 5 starts last season, Farris was 1-3 with a -0.4 bWAR. He tossed 24.1 innings, gave up 24 hits, struck out 24, and walked 11.
This spring, he's appeared in 3 games, thrown 6 innings, given up 12 hits and 12 earned runs.
Jo Adell is tearing it up this spring with a 1.067 OPS, a .359 average, and 3 homers. Logan O'Hoppe is batting .270 with 3 homers. Yankees former top prospect Oswald Peraza is hitting .341 with a 1.020 OPS and 2 homers. Slugger Jorge Soler is batting .393 with a 1.179 OPS.
Shota Imanaga had a step back in 2025 after his 2024 season, in which he was 5th in the NL CYA voting, 4th for ROY, and was an All-Star. Still, he was effective, surrendering 117 hits in 144.2 innings. He was knocked around in last year's playoffs with an 8.10 ERA.
This spring, he's given up 6 earned runs in 8.1 innings over 3 starts. He's walked none and struck out 5.
The Cubs' Nico Hoerner is batting .292 with a 1.087 OPS, and 2 homers. Carson Kelly continues his hot start, batting .333 with 2 homers. Dansby Swanson is hitting .318 with 2 homers.
Non-roster invitee Scott Kingery has struggled, batting .184 with a .668 OPS.
Newcomer Alex Bregman is away at the WBC, as is outfielder Seiya Suzuki.
Farris has been terrible this spring and is presumably desperate for a solid start so he can keep his hopes to break camp with the big club alive.
Imanaga has not been particularly effective either, but he's just getting in shape. The Angels are not a good team, though some of their bats are hitting.
For this game, the Angels should pull off the upset and win the game over the Cubs.
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Los Angeles Angels +130
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