Back Buccos To Bury Tigers In Afternoon Game

Tigers vs. Pirates, 12:35 PM ET

I think back to last year and how the Astros somewhat struggled out of the gate. I don’t recall the exact record, but it wasn’t horrendous or anything. I mentioned that the only reason you knew they were struggling was that it was early in the year and the record showed just how tough of a stretch it had been. However, if it was the middle of the season you really wouldn’t have noticed that they were not doing great. With the Tigers and the Pirates both of these teams have been winning so few games the past few seasons, you might notice that they are two of the hotter teams in baseball. Today, we look to see who will take this day game. 

The Tigers are playing very good baseball and have a golden opportunity in front of them. The Royals will not be a good team this year. The White Sox are probably going to compete with the Athletics for worst team in baseball. The Guardians are somehow in a rebuild, but also could sneakily be a contender if everything goes correctly for them (this is the description you can use pretty much every year for them, by the way). And, the Twins are the favorite to repeat as the division winner. The Tigers seem to potentially have the talent to do well this year. Look, it isn’t like they are undefeated, but Detroit having anything to root for is encouraging. Today they send out Casey Mize to the bump in hopes that he can keep building positivity in his return to the mound. Mize made a start last week and went 4.1 innings, allowing five hits and two walks. He only allowed three earned runs in his return, which is encouraging. I think Mize could have the best stuff on the team and I look forward to seeing what he does this year. 

The Pirates are not quite as surprising to me with their early season success. I believe they were a .500 team at the All-Star break last season. They’ve also been so bad for so long that the draft picks should be bolstering the team now. At least that’s what I tell myself. In any case, they are off to a very nice start and could compete for a Wild Card spot this season, or maybe even the division – it isn’t like any team in the NL Central is that great either. Today they will send out lefty, Martin Perez. Perez had a nice showing in his first start as he went 6.2 innings and allowed just two earned runs on six hits and two walks. He also was able to strike out six hitters. The Tigers are fairly familiar with him as he’s allowed 20 hits in 73 at-bats to Detroit hitters. The concern is that almost half of those hits have been for extra bases, so they are making good contact. 

This should be an interesting matchup. In the longterm, Mize should have the better stuff and be considered the better pitcher. Right now, Perez is probably the better pitcher though. I think the best idea here is to take the Pirates for the game. I think they will likely still be a little protective with Mize and might have to go to the bullpen early. I’ll back the Buccos to win this one at -130. 

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