MLB Baseball
2026-08-06 - Toronto Blue Jays at Chicago Cubs
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : Major League Baseball
Thursday 6th August 2026 - Scheduled 2:20pm EST
7:20pm (British Time)
Preview
Three series wins in a row have just given the Toronto Blue Jays (54-61) a bit of momentum in their bid to return to the Playoffs and they will try and keep that building up. They play this make up game at Wrigley Field before another tough series to be played in Philadelphia across the weekend and the Blue Jays are turning to their ace pitcher for this game.
The recent successes means the Toronto Blue Jays are 3 games out of the Wild Card picture in the American League, but it is looking increasingly likely that two of the three places are heading to rivals New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and/or Boston Red Sox. That leaves the Blue Jays as one of seven teams likely fighting it out for the last of those Wild Card spots and it is going to take a big effort to secure that.
Things are clearer for the Chicago Cubs (66-49) who are clear in the National League Wild Card race, but also looking to chase down the Milwaukee Brewers in the Central Division. 5.5 games separate the teams, but the Cubs have just swept the World Series favourites Los Angeles Dodgers and excitement is building around this team.
The Cubs will hand the ball to David Peterson who arrived in a trade from the New York Mets a few weeks before the trade deadline. He has put together a 3-1 record and a 4.36 ERA from six starts in a Cubs uniform and David Peterson has looked significantly more comfortable than he did in large parts for the struggling Mets.
In just the second start for the Chicago Cubs, David Peterson was roughed up for ten runs and failed to get out of the 4th Inning, but he has bounced back really well. Since that outing against the St Louis Cardinals, David Peterson has a 2-0 record and 1.52 ERA in four starts and those are really encouraging signs.
David Peterson has always pitched in the National League and so this is just the fourth career start against the Toronto Blue Jays- he has a 0-2 record and 4.50 ERA in the previous three.
Toronto will counter by handing the ball to Dylan Cease who has a 7-5 record and 2.41 ERA in twenty starts for the team after signing a huge seven year deal with the team in Free Agency. He has proved to be worthy of all the money and more with the ERA being the second best in the American League through to this point of the season.
Dylan Cease was a part of the All Star Game, which is not a surprise, and he has given Toronto every chance to win games. In July, Cease had a 3-1 record and 1.00 ERA in five starts and he has completed at least 6 Innings in each of those starts.
This is going to be the ninth career start against the Chicago Cubs and the former Chicago White Sox pitcher has a 4-2 record and 2.47 ERA against them.
The original series was scheduled to be completed in June when both the Cubs and Blue Jays beat the other once with this make up game being the decider.
Prediction
Both pitchers have been in very good form and the batters have also been finding the hits to put their respective teams in a position to win games.
Dylan Cease and David Peterson have been in such fine form that the total for this game has been given a line of 5.5 runs.
Out of the two, Dylan Cease may just be playing with a bit more authority as Toronto make a pitstop in Chicago before heading to Philadelphia. The Cubs just swept the Los Angeles Dodgers and are still harbouring ambitions of chasing down the Milwaukee Brewers, but Cease can perhaps last a little longer than David Peterson and it may just allow the Blue Jays to maintain current positive trajectory.
The Pick :
Chicago Cubs 1-2 Toronto Blue Jays
