Chicago at Kansas City

Kevin Gausman makes his Cubs debut tonight after this week's trade from Toronto, and he arrives at a strange time for his own numbers, a 6.47 ERA over his last eight starts even as his new club sits at 67-49 and very much in the playoff mix. The matchup breaks his way heavily regardless. Kansas City hands the ball to Daniel Lynch IV, who is making his first start of the season after operating exclusively as the Royals' best reliever, a 1.96 ERA arm now being stretched into a completely different role because the rotation has run out of healthy bodies. That leaves an already-shorthanded Kansas City bullpen, which owns the second-worst ERA in baseball, without its top late-inning option behind a starter with zero starts of track record this year. We took a shot against this Cubs lineup Thursday in Toronto's plus money, and it cost us, a 3-2 final that only reinforced how well Chicago is playing right now. Kansas City sits at 37-54 and doesn't have the pitching depth to survive a script like this one. Side with Chicago tonight.