BEST LINE: Pinnacle +102

Travis Wood can pitch and the Cubbies are playing around .500 ball over their past 24 games. This is another one of those very winnable games that’s all about fading Billy Buckner.   

With injuries piling up in the rotation, the best the Padres can do today is Buckner. Buckner is a 30-year-old career journeyman that has spent most of his pro career in the minors. When he’s been given the opportunity in the majors, Buckner has nose-dived each time for three different teams and now the Padres are his fourth team. In 43 appearances in the majors since 2007 (23 starts) Buckner has a career WHIP of 1.61, a career BAA of .309 and a career OPS of .892. Buckner is and always has been an emergency starter and cannon fodder in blowouts throughout his career. Win or lose here, when we can get on against Buckner and don’t have to spot anything in doing so, we’re going to play it every time and absolutely make no exception here. Buckner’s chance of success is slim and his chance of losing is great.