Pirates at Cubs Prediction: Odds, expert picks, starting pitchers, betting trends and stats for June 13

Its Friday, June 13 and the Pirates (28-41) are in Chicago for Game 2 of their series against the Cubs (41-27).

Paul Skenes is slated to take the mound for Pittsburgh against Cade Horton for Chicago.

Pete Crow-Armstrong went yard for the 18th time this season and Seiya Suzuki hit his 17th of the campaign as the Cubs squeaked past the Bucs 3-2 Thursday night. Jamieson Taillon earned his seventh win of the season for the Cubs.

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 Pirates at Cubs

• Date: Friday, June 13, 2025
• Time: 2:20PM EST
• Site: Wrigley Field
• City: Chicago, IL
• Network/Streaming: SNP, MARQ, MLBN

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 Pirates at the Cubs

The latest odds as of Friday:

• Moneyline: Pirates (-105), Cubs (-114)
• Spread:  Cubs 1.5
• Total: 7.0 runs

Probable starting pitchers for Pirates at Cubs

• Pitching matchup for June 13, 2025: Paul Skenes vs. Cade Horton
  
  • Pirates: Paul Skenes (4-6, 1.88 ERA)
    Last outing: 6/8 vs. Philadelphia - 7.2IP, 0ER, 2H, 1BB, 7Ks
  • Cubs: Cade Horton (3-1, 4.11 ERA)
    Last outing: 6/8 at Detroit - 5IP, 4ER, 7H, 2BB, 6Ks

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 Pirates at Cubs

• The Cubs have won 11 of their last 13 games at home
• 5 of the Pirates' last 6 games (83%) have stayed under the Total
• Paul Skenes has struck out at least 7 opposing hitters in each of his last 5 starts
  

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 Pirates and the Cubs

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 Friday's game between the Pirates 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 Pittsburgh Pirates at +1.5.
• Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 7.0.

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)
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• Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas)