Royals at Cubs Prediction: Odds, expert picks, starting pitchers, betting trends and stats for July 23

Its Wednesday, July 23 and the Royals (49-53) are in Chicago to close out their series with the Cubs (60-41).

Seth Lugo is slated to take the mound for Kansas City against Colin Rea for Chicago.

The series is even at one game apiece following Chicago’s 6-0 shutout of KC last night. Matthew Boyd threw seven scoreless innings to improve to 11-3 on the season and five different Cubs drove in runs to lead a balanced attack.

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.

Follow Rotoworld Player News for the latest fantasy and betting player news and analysis all season long.

Game details & how to watch Royals at Cubs

• Date: Wednesday, July 23, 2025
• Time: 2:20PM EST
• Site: Wrigley Field
• City: Chicago, IL
• Network/Streaming: FDSNKC, MARQ

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 Royals at the Cubs

The latest odds as of Wednesday:

• Moneyline: Royals (+120), Cubs (-142)
• Spread: Cubs -1.5
• Total: 10.0 runs

Probable starting pitchers for Royals at Cubs

• Pitching matchup for July 23, 2025: Seth Lugo vs. Colin Rea
  • Royals: Seth Lugo (6-5, 2.94 ERA)
    Last outing: July 18 at Miami – 7.50 ERA, 5 Earned Runs Allowed, 8 Hits Allowed, 0 Walks, and 5 Strikeouts
  • Cubs: Colin Rea (8-3, 3.80 ERA)
    Last outing: July 18 vs, Boston – 1.80 ERA, 1 Earned Runs Allowed, 4 Hits Allowed, 4 Walks, and 5 Strikeouts

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 Royals at Cubs

• The Cubs are 7-3 in their last 10 home games
• The Total has cashed the under in 29 of the Royals’ 52 road games this season
• Nico Hoerner is 7-20 since the All-Star Break
• Dansby Swanson is 5-12 over his last 3 games

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 today’s game between the Royals and the Cubs

Rotoworld Best Bet

Please bet responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700.

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 Wednesday’s game between the Royals and the Cubs:

• Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Chicago Cubs on the Moneyline.
• Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Kansas City Royals at +1.5.
• Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the under on the Game Total of 10.0.

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)