Jameson Taillon gets the ball for the Cubs with the season on the line against the Padres at Wrigley Field on Thursday. 

The veteran right-hander has been his typical self all season – a competent mid-rotation starter – but Chicago will hope for more in this winner-take-all Game 3 of the wild-card series. 

Oddsmakers are anticipating a quick hook for Taillon, with this potentially being the Cubs’ last game until next spring. 

Taillon’s outs prop at DraftKings Sportsbook is sitting at just 9.5, meaning if he goes just 3 ⅓ innings, he will hit the over. 

He went over this number in all 23 of his starts during the regular season, but, of course, this is the postseason – starters don’t pitch anywhere near as deep as they do pre-October. 

The Cubs, however, come into this contest with a heavily taxed bullpen, having played each of the past two days thanks to the new wild-card round format. 

In the series opener, Matthew Boyd went just 4 ⅓ innings before turning it over to the ‘pen. 

Shota Imanaga, pitching as the “bulk” arm on Wednesday, went just four innings in the 3-0 loss. 

While Taillon likely won’t pitch deep into this game either, the Cubs will likely try to squeeze what they can out of him, given the bullpen situation. 

It also helps that Taillon has been excellent since coming back from a groin injury in early September, posting a 1.54 ERA. 

Expect to see a bit more of Taillon on Thursday than anticipated while the Cubs and Padres look to advance to an NLDS showdown with the top-seeded Brewers.

The play: Jameson Taillon Over 9.5 outs (-115, DraftKings Sportsbook)

Dylan Svoboda is a versatile writer and analyst across many sports. He’s particularly knowledgeable about the big three — MLB, the NFL and the NBA.