Red Sox at Cubs prediction: Odds, expert picks, starting pitchers, betting trends, and stats for July 18

Friday, July 18, the Boston Red Sox (53-45) open a series in Chicago at Wrigley Field against the Cubs (57-39).

Lucas Giolito is slated to take the mound for Boston against Colin Rea for Chicago.

There is no hotter team in baseball than the Red Sox who have ripped off ten straight wins. As a result, Boston is back in the race in the American League East trailing Toronto by three games. No question the return of Alex Bregman has only added to the team’s recent momentum.

The Cubs continue to set the pace in the National League Central. They lead the Brewers by one game. Pete Crow-Armstrong (25 HRs) and Kyle Tucker (100 Hits) pace what has been a lethal offense to this point this season. Only the Dodgers (518) have scored more runs than the Cubs (512) this season.

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 Red Sox at Cubs

• Date: Friday, July 18, 2025
• Time: 2:20PM EST
• Site: Wrigley Field
• City: Chicago, IL
• Network/Streaming: NESN, MARQ, MLBN

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 Red Sox at the Cubs

The latest odds as of Thursday:

• Moneyline: Red Sox (+108), Cubs (-128)
• Spread: Cubs -1.5
• Total: 8.0 runs

Probable starting pitchers for Red Sox at Cubs

• Pitching matchup for July 18, 2025: Lucas Giolito vs. Colin Rea
  • Red Sox: Lucas Giolito (6-1, 3.36 ERA)
    Last outing: July 9 vs. Colorado – 7.2IP, 1ER, 4H, 3BB, 7Ks
  • Cubs: Colin Rea (7-3, 3.91 ERA)
    Last outing: July 10 vs. St. Louis – 6.2IP, 1ER, 2H, 2BB, 4Ks

Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type!

Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Red Sox at Cubs

• The Red Sox have a losing road record this season (21-25) but have won their last 3 games
• 8 of the Cubs’ last 10 home games have gone over the Total
• The Red Sox have covered the Run Line in 3 straight road games
• Ronan Anthony is 15-44 (.341) in July
• Alex Bregman is 2-8 (.250) since returning from the disabled list

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 Friday’s game between the Red Sox and the Cubs

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 Friday’s game between the Red Sox and the Cubs:

• 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 Boston Red Sox at +1.5.
• Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 8.0.

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)