Aces Bring Added Excitement To Tigers Vs Rangers
Tigers vs. Rangers, 8:05 ET
Opening Day always shows us the best pitchers facing off in every game. Everyone wants to get off on a good foot, so they start their Ace. However, the pitchers rarely go deep into games, most don't pitch very well, and the excitement of the Opening Day is better than the pitching matchup. Every now and then during the season, the clubs will have it align so the Aces end up squaring off again. Due to off days and other things, you end up seeing an Ace face a fifth starter and it isn't very exciting. Today we get two Aces going as the Tigers take on the Rangers.
I've written about the Tigers this year probably more than any other team. There isn't a ton to say about the club that I haven't said already, but let me recap their season. The Tigers are 29-30 so far and 15-15 on the road. At the beginning of the season, their pitching staff was on fire and throwing the ball very well. The offense wasn't great, but was getting enough of the job done so that they could win ball games. The Tigers were battling for first place and looked like they were going to compete for the division. At some point, things dropped a bit and the team started hitting a bit better, but pitching a bit worse. Most of their statistics are around league average, which makes sense for a team that is hovering around .500. They still have plenty of time to make a push for the playoffs this season, but I do think this has to be looked at as a positive progress season. One of the best parts of the year has been today's starter, Tarik Skubal. Skubal is on pace to be in the Cy Young conversation. Looking at his numbers, it is easy to see why. He has a 7-1 record with a 2.01 ERA and a 0.82 WHIP. He also ranks 10th in strikeouts with 80 for the season. Those four numbers are all top-10 in Major League Baseball. He rebounded from a our start by putting in seven scoreless innings where he allowed just three hits and one walk to the Pirates. He's only had to starts this season where he hasn't completed six innings and hasn't allowed an earned run in five of his 11 outings. Rangers hitters have been good against Skubal in the past, going 15-for-45 against him, but this is a more polished version of that pitcher.
Detroit Tigers LHP Tarik Skubal delivers against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field. (Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports)
The Rangers are a team that I probably have written the least about this season. Sometimes that's just how it works out. This will be the Rangers 60th game after their championship run from last season and if they win, it will put them at exactly .500 about 35% of the way through the season. This hasn't been quite the same offense that we saw last season, which was leading the league in runs, but the offense has still been good. For the year they are hitting .243 and have scored 264 runs. We are seeing that they still hit the balls, but just aren't driving in the runs like they used to. These numbers are all better than the Tigers, but they aren't significantly better. The pitching staff has been about league average as well. For the season, the club has a 3.95 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. These numbers also seem a bit inflated to me because opponents are only hitting .232 against the club. Today they get their best pitcher to try and combat Skubal as Nathan Eovaldi is taking the hill. Eovaldi made just one start since returning from injury as he threw just three innings, allowing two earned runs. He has pitched well in his limited innings this season as he has allowed just 14 earned runs over 44.1 innings. Opponents are hitting just .217 against him as well. Surprisingly, Tigers hitters have been good against him, hitting .304 against him in 46 at-bats.
The obvious play here should be to take the under 7.5 runs. I can't talk you off of it, because this could be a 1-0 final for one of the clubs. I do think the Rangers will win this game because they are playing better baseball than the Tigers lately. It is hard to believe that the Rangers or Tigers will score much more than three runs. I'll back the under 7.5 in this one despite the success that the hitters have had in the past against the starters.
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