Back the White Sox Behind Kopech

White Sox vs. Pirates, 1:35 ET

One of the games that I liked yesterday was the Astros to beat the Twins. The final score of the game was 9 to 6 in favor of Minnesota. This was somewhat of a meltdown on the Astros side as they allowed four eighth-inning runs that ultimately cost them the game. To be fair, they were losing in the sixth as well, but their bullpen looks like trash right now. Maybe today's pick will be the same, but I am going to once again take the better team.

Another team that looks like trash, but I still belive in is the White Sox. Either their entire team forgot how to play baseball last year, or their talent was greatly exaggerated. I suppose both could be somewhat true, but they are too talented of a team to stumble for this long. They were able to pull off a win yesterday and a win today brings them back to .500 after 10 games. That's acceptable I suppose. Some things are alarming when I look at their team stats. They only have 10 home runs on the season, that's really low for a team with the power they have. They do have a good amount of hits (99) and even runs (52), but this is a longball game. The biggest concerns come from the pitching though. They have a 7.38 ERA right now. That's astronomically high and are allowing opponents to hit .296 against them. Michael Kopech is one of the problems for the club. He went 4.2 innings, allowed eight hits, and seven earned runs in his first start of the season. He is too talented for that to be the trend. Today he should be able to rebound from that awful start and make an impact.

The Pirates are kind of surprising with a 5-3 record to start the year. I don't think I expected them to lose 100 games, but I also don't think I would've guessed that they would be over .500 on the second weekend of the season. They are getting amazing production from their left fielder Bryan Reynolds. If he keeps this up, he will be in a different uniform by the end of the year. It is unlikely that he stays this hot, but because he plays for Pittsburgh, most people probably don't know about him anyway. He's had two straight solid seasons. He strikes out too much though. Their pitcher today is going to be Johan Oviedo. The Pirates mustered a win in his game against the Red Sox but it was in spite of what Oviedo produced. He allowed four earned runs (five total, and three home runs) over 4.2 innings. The White Sox have never seen him, but he isn't that talented that he will make it through a bunch of innings unscathed.

The White Sox are the better team, at least that's what I keep telling myself. I also think that Kopech is the better pitcher. Honestly, look at the stuff, who would you rather have on your team, Kopech or Oviedo? Not only that, but who's first performance of the season do you think is more likely to repeat? I'm taking the White Sox in this one at -115. I think we are getting a discount on them because of Kopech's first start and that the Pirates are playing pretty well overall.

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