The Atlanta Braves continue their tour through the NL Central as they face the Pittsburgh Pirates. It is time to continue our MLB odds series with a Braves-Pirates prediction and pick.
The Braves will enter the series sitting in second place in the NL East. There have been some struggles as of late. The Braves lost three of four to the Padres before losing game one of their series with the Cubs. They would come back and take game two of the series and will play game three on Thursday. A.J. Smith-Sawver will be on the mound for the Braves against the Cubs. He will be making his first start of the year. Meanwhile, the Pirates will be in the middle of the pack, third or fourth, in the NL Central. They have been playing well as of late. they took three of four from the Cubs before taking the first game of the series with the Giants. Game three will be the rubber match though. The Pirates will be sending Paul Skenes to the mound. He is 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA.
Here are the MLB Odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Braves-Pirates Odds
Atlanta Braves: -1.5 (-105)
Moneyline: -162
Pittsburgh Pirates: +1.5 (-114)
Moneyline: +136
Over: 9.5 (-122)
Under: 9.5 (+100)
How to Watch Braves vs. Pirates
Time: 6:40 PM ET/ 3:40 PM PT
TV: BSSE/SNP
Stream: fuboTV (Click for free trial)
Why The Braves Will Cover The Spread/Win
The Braves are 16th in the majors in runs scored while sitting seventh in batting average, seventh in on-base percentage, and seventh in slugging. Marcell Ozuna is leading the way for this offense. He is hitting .324 on the season with a .405 on-base percentage. Ozuna has nine doubles, and 15 home runs this year, good for 46 RBIs. He also has scored 28 times this year. Leading the team in scoring runs this year is Ronald Acuna Jr. He is hitting .242 on the year with a .351 on-base percentage. Acuna has seven doubles and three home runs, good for 12 RBIs. Still, the best part of his game is the 15 stolen bases and 37 runs scored.
Matt Olson is also having a solid year. He is hitting .228 on the year with a .325 on-base percentage. He has nine doubles, a triple, and seven home runs this year leading to 26 RBIs. Olson has also scored 19 times. Ozzie Albies also is driving in runs. Albies has 22 RBIs on the year while hitting .268. He has had three home runs and has scored 22 times in the year.
The Braves are seventh in ERA, ninth in WHIP, and 12th in opponent batting average. The Braves have yet to name a starting pitcher in this one. They would move Reynaldo Lopez to this start, but he is currently slated to pitch Saturday.
Why The Pirates Will Cover The Spread/Win
The Pirates are 23rd in the majors in runs scored while sitting 26th in batting average, 24th in on-base percentage, and 28th in slugging percentage. Bryan Reynolds has led the way. He is hitting .251 on the year with a .335 on-base percentage. HE has 12 doubles a triple, and six home runs. This has led to 26 RBIs and 19 runs scored. Further, he has stolen four bases. Connor Joe has also been solid. He is hitting .268 on the year with a .335 on-base percentage. Joe has ten doubles and six home runs leading to 22 RBIs. He also leads the team with 25 runs scored.
Oneil Cruz leads the team in homeruns. He has hit .256 on the year with a .306 on-base percentage. Cruz also has seven home runs and. 19 RBIs, while scoring 19 times. Meanwhile, Andrew McCutchen continues to produce. McCutchen is hitting just .218 but has a .331 on-base percentage. HE has six home runs and 13 RBIs, the whole scoring 21 runs this year.
The Pirates are 13th in. team ERA while sitting 15th in WHIP and 15th in opponent batting average. Bailey Falter will be on the mound in this one. He is 2-2 with a 3.53 ERA and a .98 WHIP. Last time out, he was great. Falter pitched 7.2 innings with three hits and a walk, but no runs scored. Still, the Pirates took the loss in the game as they did not score. Current members of the Braves have 45 at-bats against Falter. They have hit .378 against him with four home runs and seven RBIs.
Final Braves-Pirates Prediction & Pick
The Braves have not been playing the best as of late, and the Pirates have been playing better. Still, the Braves are the better team. They have the better pitching and better offense in this one. Expect this to be a chance for the Braves to right their recent trends and get the win.
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Final Braves-Pirates Prediction & Pick: Braves ML (-162)
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