Chicago Cubs vs Tampa Bay Rays Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 04/07/26

Major League Baseball returned to Tropicana Field yesterday with the Tampa Bay Rays grabbing a home victory over the visiting Chicago Cubs. Tampa Bay has the starting pitching edge again on Tuesday, and I look for them to outlast Chicago once again. Drew Rasmussen is the scheduled starter for the Rays in Game 2. Rasmussen tossed 5 innings of 1-run ball against the Cardinals in his season debut before 5 more innings of 1-run ball in his 2nd start against the Brewers. While the right-hander has allowed both runs via the home run ball, he did register 8 strikeouts in that last start which was an encouraging sign.

Javier Assad is scheduled to start Game 2 of the series for the Cubs. Assad only pitched 37 innings last season and left a spring training outing this season with a hand injury. He began the season in AAA, tossing 7 innings while issuing 6 walks and allowing 2 home runs resulting in 8 total runs. Assad is not my favorite starter in this Cubs rotation to begin with, let alone in his poor current form. I look for Tampa Bay to get off to a hot start offensively and ride that momentum to victory.

Cubs vs Rays prediction: Tampa Bay ML (-135) available at time of publishing. Playable to -140 odds.