Overview
The San Francisco Giants head over to Pittsburgh for their big wild card matchup with the Pirates. The Pirates were 4-2 versus the Giants this season and are 11-6 versus the Giants over their last 20 meetings.
Head to Head Trends
Giants are 2-6 in the last 8 meetings in Pittsburgh.
Over is 5-1-1 in the last 7 meetings in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Pirates (+100)
The Pittsburgh Pirates finished 2nd in the National League Central 2 games back of the St Louis Cardinals. The Pirates were 14 games over .500 in the regular season with a 88-74 record. The Pirates struggled on the road for a lot of the season but they actually had the second best home record in all of baseball with a 51-30 record. The Pirates were one of the better offensive teams in the National League averaging 4.21 runs per game and that went up to 4.32 runs per game at home. They were about average on defense allowing 3.90 runs per game but at home that dropped all the way down to 3.69 which was a big reason for their home success. On the hill for the Pirates today is Edinson Volquez who was 13-7 with a 3.04 ERA on the season.
Pittsburgh Pirates Trends
Pirates are 17-6 in their last 23 overall.
Pirates are 12-5 in Volquezs last 17 starts.
Pirates are 39-18 in their last 57 home games.
San Francisco Giants (-110)
The San Francisco Giants finished 2nd in the National League West 6 games behind the LA Dodgers. The Giants finshed the regular season 14 games over .500 with a 88-74 record. The Giants had a fairly solid team overall averaging 4.10 runs per game on offense and allowing 3.79 runs per game on defense. On the road the Giants finished the season with a 43-38 record and averaged 4.20 runs per game on offense and 4.02 runs per game on defense. Starting for the Giants today is lefty Madison Bumgarner who was 18-10 with a 2.98 ERA on the season.
San Francisco Giants Trends
Giants are 5-12 in their last 17 road games vs. a team with a winning record.
Giants are 3-7 in Bumgarners last 10 starts vs. a team with a winning record.
Conclusion
I like the Pittsburgh Pirates in this one tonight. Both teams finished the season with same 88-74 record they also both had the exact same +0.31 run differential. The starting pitchers for this game also have very similar numbers so on a neutral site I think this game would be the definition of a coin flip but its not in a neutral site its in Pittsburgh where the Pirates had one of the best home record in baseball so I think the advantage has to go to the Pirates here.
Free Pick: Pittsburgh Pirates +100
