4** MLB POD - 3-2 To Start This Year - 5 Years Of Consistent

[Pick Bot]

Pirates -142 4* MLB POD
The Cardinals were 26th in OPS last year vs. LHP and they also got rid of David Freese I do expect them to be a bit better this year in that department with the addition of a few guys, but so far that has not been evident with their .125 average and .399 OPS in 32 AB this year.. It's a small sample, but overall the Cardinals have not hit .191 average and 2.50 runs per 9 compared with the Pirates .238 and 4.14 runs per 9. Not a major advantage but Francisco Liriano will take the mound today for the Pirates and he has a 1.47 ERA in 11 home starts last year and over 3 regular season starts against the Cardinals he went 24 IP and had a 0.75 ERA. He carried that over into the post season with a quality start going 6 innings giving up 2 ER vs. the Cardinals. He will be the better pitcher on the mound on Saturday.

Joe Kelly likely won't hold onto his role as the #5 starter throughout the year, but he can be very good out of the bullpen. He did carry a 2.69 ERA last year, but a lot of it was lucky when you consider his raw stats 5.73 K/9 vs. 3.19 BB/9 and a 82.4 % left on base percentage. The Pirates hitters had a good success off him with a .299 average and .822 OPS, but struggled with runners on. If that happens again today at least we know as of now the Pirates have the better bullpen posting a 1.42 ERA over 19 IP this season after being #3 last year with a 2.89 ERA. The Cardinals on the other hand rank 30th currently with a 9.58 ERA and were not in the top 10 last year. Pittsburgh is 42-19 in their last 61 as a home favorite and the Cardinals have lost 9 of their last 12 visits.