Tuesday's best MLB bets

Chicago Cubs at Washington Nationals (-123, 8.5)

If there is one things the Cubs can do well – and they can’t say it about much – it’s hit the absolute heck out of left-handed pitching. 

The loveable losers have scored a staggering 162 runs against South Paws this season, the eighth-most in the league. The Cubbies also are hitting a staggering .280 against lefties this year – the highest average in baseball and seven points higher than the next closest team. 

And not only is the team hitting, but raking for power. 

Chicago has 86 doubles and 36 home runs against lefties this season and a National League-leading .449 slugging percentage against them.

“It’s about making adjustments,” Marlon Byrd told ESPN.com. “When they come in looking at the film, they have to figure out what they’re looking at and fix it the next time out. The learning curve up here is tough.”

John Lannan and the Nationals won’t be graded on a curve on Tuesday night.

Pick: Cubs.

Oakland Athletics at Cleveland Indians (+101, 7.5)

This one might be so low scoring that it seems like the teams aren’t even using bats.

Overall, Oakland has a 49-66-8 over/under record and has seen six of its past 10 fall short of the total. Cleveland is 58-60-6 overall against the total and has gone 3-3 against the number the past six.

Meantime, neither offense is setting the world on fire. Both teams are in the bottom seven of the Majors in runs scored, with both struggling to just put the ball in play. The Athletics are hitting just .256 and the Indians are even worse at .247.

And then there’s the starters. Cleveland hurler Faustio Carmona may be struggling, but has shut down Oakland in two starts against them this season, yielding a meager four runs over 14.1 innings. Oakland’s Gio Gonzalez also has been dominant against the Indians, allowing no earned runs over 13.2 innings.

"When he commands both sides of the plate with the fastball, he's deadly because his curveball is so good," Oakland second baseman Mark Ellis said of Gonzalez to the San Jose Mercury News. "He's grown up every time he goes out there, keeping his composure.”

Pick: Under.