Mariners vs. Cubs prediction and odds for Monday, April 10 (Castillo will shut down Cubs)

The Mariners and Cubs start an interleague series on Monday night with Seattle sending out its best pitcher to shut down the Cubbies.

Luis Castillo has been in Cy Young form so far this season, pitching more than 11 innings of shutout baseball across two starts while striking out 12 batters. He now faces a Cubs offense that is right in the middle of the pack offensively, can he keep building his candidacy?

Here are the odds for Monday's series opener:

Mariners vs. Cubs odds, run line and total

Mariners vs. Cubs prediction and pick

Castillo is a machine right now, and while the Cubs have shown flashes as an above average offensive team, I'll side with the Mariners right hander to keep it rolling at Wrigley Field. Castillo does a great job of keeping the ball out of the air, posting a career 52% ground ball rate.

However, where I have some concern for the Mariners is the team's inability to hit left handed pitching. The team was bottom 10 in batting average against southpaws last season and are 25th this season at just .219 (on a small smaple size).

Drew Smyly toes the rubber for the Cubs, who has been a mess this season, allowing six earned runs in less than five innings of work. However, if we assume Castillo is in line for another shut down outing, we need the Mariners offense to do the heavy lifting on Monday night to get over the total.

While I think Seattle is likely to win this game, I'd rather target the under as my best bet given that this is implying a high scoring game for a team that has its ace on the mound and struggles against lefty pitchers.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.