For the second time in three years, baseball bettors will be treated to a Game 7 in the World Series, with the road team trying to win again.
This season, it will be the Chicago Cubs looking to win the World Series for the first time since 1908 as small -120 betting favorites Wednesday at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark against the Cleveland Indians.
The Tribe have home-field advantage and last won the World Series back in 1948.
The Cubs have now won two of the first three games at Cleveland following a 9-3 victory in Game 6 on Tuesday after the Indians had taken two of three in Chicago to head home with a 3-1 series lead.
In other words, there has not been much of a home-field edge for either side, and three of the past four World Series have been won on the road, including each of the last two. The San Francisco Giants last did it in a Game 7 two years ago versus the Kansas City Royals, and the Pittsburgh Pirates are the most recent team to win the World Series on the road after trailing 3-1 back in 1979.
Cleveland ace Corey Kluber will stake his claim for MVP honors as he goes for his third win in the World Series. Kluber has stifled the Cubs offensively in his previous two starts, holding them to one run and nine hits over 12 innings with one walk and 15 strikeouts.
While Kluber will be pitching on short rest for the third time in the series, the Indians did not have to use any of their top three relievers in Game 6 and will have a fresh Andrew Miller, Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen all ready to go.
Kluber will be opposed by MLB ERA leader Kyle Hendricks, who will make his first road start of the playoffs, as he has pitched much better at Wrigley Field this year. Hendricks went 7-6 with a 2.95 ERA in 16 outings away from home during the regular season but still held opponents to a .213 batting average.
Hendricks earned the clinching win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS, allowing two hits in 7.1 scoreless innings.
Unlike Cleveland, though, Chicago’s bullpen will not be nearly as strong outside of possibly using starters Jon Lester and John Lackey in relief if Hendricks struggles. That’s because closer Aroldis Chapman has thrown 62 pitches in his last two appearances over three days, making his availability past one inning questionable at best after manager Joe Maddon used him in Game 6 with a five-run lead.
The over has cashed in two of the last three games of the World Series after the under went 3-0 in the first three, according to the Odds Shark MLB Database.
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