Cubs at Athletics prediction: Odds, expert picks, starting pitchers, betting trends, and stats for March 31

Its Monday, March 31 and the Chicago Cubs (2-4) are in Sacramento, CA to take on the Oakland Athletics (2-2) in Game 1 of their series.

Ben Brown is slated to take the mound for Chicago against Joey Estes for Oakland.

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 Cubs at Athletics

• Date: Monday, March 31, 2025
• Time: 10:05PM EST
• Site: Sutter Health Park
• City: Sacramento, CA
• Network/Streaming: FDSN, NBCSCA

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 Cubs at the Athletics

The latest odds as of Monday:

• Moneyline: Chicago Cubs (-128), Oakland Athletics (+109)
• Spread: Cubs -1.5
• Total: 8.0 runs

Probable starting pitchers for Cubs at Athletics

• Pitching matchup for March 31, 2025: Ben Brown vs. Joey Estes
  
  • Cubs: Ben Brown (0-1)
    Last Start: 3/18 vs. LA Dodgers (LOST 4-1), 2.2 IP, 4 Hits, 2 earned runs, 5 Ks
  • Athletics: Joey Estes (0-0)
    2024 - 25GP, 127.2 IP, 7-9, 5.01 ERA, 92 Ks

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 Cubs at Athletics

• The A's are 3-1 on the Run Line this season (ATS)
• Athletics' Game Totals are 0-3-1 (O/U) this season

• The Cubs are 2-4 on the Run Line (ATS) this season

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 tonight’s game between the Cubs and the Athletics

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 Monday's game between the Cubs and the Athletics:

• 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 Cubs 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)