On Opening Day, the Chicago Cubs are visiting the Texas Rangers, at 7:35 PM ET on Thursday.
The Rangers are favored (-118) in a projected close game against the Cubs (-102). The Rangers will start Nathan Eovaldi against the Cubs and Justin Steele.
Get ready for the Rangers vs. Cubs with everything you need to know ahead of Thursday’s baseball action, including viewing options.
Texas Rangers vs. Chicago Cubs odds and betting lines
MLB odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Odds updated Thursday at 9:16 AM ET. For a full list of Sports betting odds, access USA TODAY Sports Betting Scores Odds Hub.
- Favorite: Rangers (-118, bet $118 to win $100)
- Underdog: Cubs (-102, bet $102 to win $100)
- Over/under: 8
Rangers vs. Cubs: Live streaming info & game time
- Game Day: Thursday, March 28, 2024
- Game Time: 7:35 PM ET
- Stadium: Globe Life Field
- TV Channel: ESPN
- Live Stream: Fubo (Watch for free)
Rangers stats and trends
Rangers betting records
- Last season, the Rangers were favored 118 times and won 69, or 58.5%, of those games.
- Texas had a record of 61-42, a 59.2% win rate, when it was favored by -118 or more by bookmakers last season.
- The moneyline for this contest implies a 54.1% chance of a victory for the Rangers.
- Texas and its opponents hit the over in 93 of 179 games with a total last season.
- The Rangers had an ATS record of 101-78-0 in 179 games with a spread last season.
Nathan Eovaldi (Rangers probable starter)
- Eovaldi will make his first start of the season for the Rangers.
- The 34-year-old right-hander started and threw six scoreless innings when he last appeared on Thursday, Nov. 2 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
- Last season he finished with a 3.63 ERA and a 1.139 WHIP over his 25 games, putting together a 12-5 record.
Rangers batting stats
- The Rangers hit 233 homers last season, which ranked third in the league.
- Fueled by 577 extra-base hits, Texas ranked third in MLB with a .452 slugging percentage last season.
- Batting .263 last season ranked the Rangers second in MLB.
- With 881 runs scored last season, Texas ranked No. 3 in all of baseball.
- With an OBP of .337 last season, the Rangers ranked third in baseball.
- Texas ranked 17th in MLB in strikeouts per game with an average of 8.7 whiffs per contest.
Cubs stats and trends
Cubs betting records
- The Cubs were underdogs in 69 games last season and came away with the win 29 times (42%) in those contests.
- Last season, Chicago came away with a win 24 times in 55 chances when named as an underdog of at least -102 or worse on the moneyline.
- The moneyline set for this matchup implies the Cubs have a 50.5% chance of coming away with a victory in the contest.
- Chicago and its opponents hit the over in 80 of its 162 games with a total last season.
- The Cubs went 79-83-0 against the spread in their 162 games that had a posted line last season.
Justin Steele (Cubs probable starter)
- Steele starts for the first time this season for the Cubs.
- In his last appearance on Tuesday, Sept. 26, the 28-year-old southpaw started and went 5 1/3 innings against the Atlanta Braves.
- In 30 games last season he put together a 16-5 record and had a 3.06 ERA and a 1.171 WHIP.
- Last year he ranked sixth in ERA (3.06), 18th in WHIP (1.171), and 22nd in K/9 (9.1) among qualified pitchers in MLB.
Cubs batting stats
- The Cubs ranked 15th in MLB action with 196 total home runs last season.
- Last year Chicago’s .421 slugging percentage ranked 10th-best in MLB.
- The Cubs finished No. 11 in the majors last season with a .254 batting average.
- Last season Chicago scored the sixth-most runs in baseball (819 total, 5.1 per game).
- A year ago the Cubs’ .330 on-base percentage ranked sixth-best in the majors.
- The team struck out 8.6 times per game to rank 14th in baseball.
