Oh, how I wish we could all be a fly on the wall of American Family Field in Milwaukee right now as the Pirates are set to take on the Brewers. Just take a second to let that sink in. The Pirates have had a lackluster season thus far, with a below-average regular season record of 43 wins and 47 losses. On the other hand, the Brewers have impressed with 53 wins stacked against 38 losses.
Now, let's talk starting pitchers. The Pirates are turning to Martin Perez, who's been kind of a ‘meh’ choice this season with a 4.85 ERA and 1.59 WHIP. On the other side, Tobias Myers of the Brewers has an ERA of 3.55 and a WHIP of 1.20 - clearly outpacing Perez. So, if I were a betting man, and let's be honest, sometimes I am, I'd already be leaning towards the Brewers just on the pitching stats.
Then, we have the players. The Pirates do have their shining stars with Rowdy Tellez and Brian Reynolds, both swinging well above average. But then, on comes Christian Yelich and Jackson Chourio strutting their Brewers garb. Yelich is batting .339 with a surprising 11 stolen bases, while Chourio’s batting .322 - a pretty lethal combination if you ask me.
Looking at past duels, it seems like the Pirates and Brewers have traded blows quite a bit. The most recent game being a brutal route as the Pirates sunk the Brewers 12-2. Though let's remember that even in baseball, memory can be short.
In terms of recent results, the Pirates are ending a mixed bag of games, winning their last two games, they lost 3 out of the previous five games. The Brewers haven't exactly been on a roll, either, coming off a recent thrashing from the Pirates and finding themselves on the wrong end of a seesaw battle with the Dodgers and Rockies.
So, considering the spread and all the other data that shall not be named but very well-known factors to anyone wearing a hat today (and those who aren't). It seems that the winds are favoring the Brewers, but hey, it's baseball. There could be a quick steal or home run to shake things up. Taking all these into account, I'd lean towards the Beermakers but not by a significant margin.
Albert’s Prediction: Milwaukee Brewers by 2.