Free Pick | MLB | Thursday | June 25

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#954 New York Mets (Peralta) -110 over Chicago Cubs (Boyd) 6:10 PM CT

Matthew Boyd hasn’t pitched since early May. The 35-year-old left-hander had a season of revival in 2025 for the Cubs after a mostly irrelevant career starting at the MLB level in 2015. He will be difficult to count on for a successful outing Thursday after the extended layoff and a season line that features a 6.00 ERA. The Chicago bullpen has a 6.38 ERA in the past five games and while the Cubs have posted 29 runs to win the first three games of this series, Chicago pitching has allowed four or more runs seven times in the past nine games. The season feels all but over for the Mets, with an extensive payroll and high expectations landing with a 34-46 record as the All-Star Break approaches. New York has dropped five in a row, but Freddy Peralta can stop the slide. Peralta’s season line was wrecked in Philadelphia last weekend allowing 10 runs, but he has decent home splits, and he owns five quality starts this season. Peralta owns excellent career numbers vs. the Cubs as well, going 9-4 with a 3.30 ERA in 23 appearances. The 10-3 win yesterday for Chicago came with only a 9-7 edge in hits as the Mets went hitless with runners in scoring position and Chicago had to use more relievers than New York, even in the convincing win. The Cubs are still a below .500 road team this season and the Mets have hit .299 with 5.5 runs per nine vs. left-handers in the past 10 games. Look for New York to have a good opportunity to avoid being swept at home Thursday night.