Pirates at Cubs 8/1/20 - MLB Picks & Predictions

The Pirates travel on the road to historic Wrigley Field to take on the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs have started the season as well as you can ask, winning back to back series over the Brewers and then the Reds. The Pirates have lost their opening series to the Brewers and Cardinals and were shutout 3-0 by the Brewers to lose the series. The loss moved the Pirates to 2-4 on the season. 

The pitching matchup in this one will be an exciting one as we see a young inexperienced starter for the Pirates against a guy on the fringe between starter and the bullpen for the Cubs. The Pirates will send out Mitch Keller who was called up late in the season last year, at only 24 years old the Pirates are hoping to see an improvement from last seasons 1-5 record and 7.13 ERA. Keller’s opening start in 2020 was decent going 5 innings, allowing a run on two hits but walked three and struck out two. 

The Cubs will send out Tyler Chatwood who has bounced around the MLB previously but has found a home primarily coming out of the bullpen for the Cubs. Chatwood appeared in 38 games last season making five starts. He finished 5-3 with a 3.76 ERA in 76 innings of work. Chatwood has a lifetime ERA of 4.36 in 136 appearances.

The Cubs have one of the best teams at the plate early in this season batting .241 on the year and averaging 6.33 runs per game which leads the MLB. The Cubs have boom or bust type players in the lineup, showing with there dismal 11 strikeouts per game which ranks 28th in the MLB. Superstar third baseman Kris Bryant has struck out 10 times in 22 at-bats and is batting .091 on the season.

However, the emergence of future stars has allowed the Cubs to stay afloat despite their struggling star. Twenty-three-year-old utility player Nico Hoerner has been huge, leading the team in batting average at .389 on the season. As well as center fielder Ian Happ who has hit two home runs and driven in 5 runs in 6 games. 

The Pirates are the worst offense in the MLB thus far hitting just .171 on the year and scoring 3.83 runs per game which ranks 23rd. The Pirates came into this season with 100/1 odds to win the NL Central and the line in this game further proves that there isn’t a ton to be excited about for the Pirates this season.