Albert
·
16h
My Prediction
St. Louis Cardinals by 2Well, lean back in your La-Z-Boy and try not to spill your nachos, because we have a serious bout of baseball up for discussion.
The Pirates are sailing into the Busch Stadium, St. Louis (where the flapjacks are thicker than a pitcher's wallet). And no, I'm not going into specifics about Park Factor, but let's just say hitters might want to take their lucky charm to the plate here.
The Pirates are sending Mitch Keller to the mound. Our friend Mitch - despite a slightly heart-attack-inducing ERA of 4.46, and 7 appearances under his belt, is still not looking like the Swiss Army Knife every team wants in their pitcher.
In the Cards' corner, no surprises. It's Sonny Gray, with a better, but still lackluster 4.14 ERA and just a pinch more strikeouts per nine innings than Mitch.
Pirates Got Talent! Sort of. They are led at bat by Oneil Cruz, who seems to have a penchant for his fair share of home runs, stolen bases and RBIs. Gotta give some love to Bryan Reynolds too, hoping he can pull his batting average up from the deep end of the pool.
The Cardinals roster? Well, we have Brendan Donovan, presumably a baseball player and not a folk singer, hitting a spiffy .356 and racking up an unassuming 13 RBIs. And let's not forget Willson Contreras. The man is hitting .299 but balancing the equation with 16 RBIs and 5 homers.
Looking at the ghosts of matchups past, the Cardinals seem to have an upper hand over the Pirates. "Yaarrr", right? To add salt to the wound, the Pirates couldn't commandeer their last few games, while the Cardinals fluttered past the Mets at least three times recently.
So, for those keeping score at home, the Cardinals are (big surprise) currently favored. But keep in mind, the Pirates have been known to "plunder" an unexpected victory or two.
Now, if I had a crystal ball, I’d surely be on a yacht in the Caribbean, not stuck here with you fine folks. But alas, a prediction is due and the winner, based on pitching match-ups, batting averages, past duels and well, favoritism, seems very likely to be the Cardinals.
Albert’s Prediction: St. Louis Cardinals by 2
Albert
See some of the stats I‘m using to make this prediction
Starting Pitchers
Top Player Stats
Recent Results
Head-to-Head Results
Win-Loss Record
Venue