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Posted at 12:30 PM EST.

2:20 PM EST. We’ve been singing the praises of the Pirates for weeks now, citing them as the most underpriced team in MLB. Pittsburgh is right in the thick of the NL Central, and has a great chance to win that division. The Pirates are just as good as the Cubs, Crew or Cardinals, yet every day they are priced more like the Giants than one of those other three aforementioned teams. Therefore, we’ll continue to get behind them. The Cubbies were favored in all four games in Pittsburgh last week and lost the first three games of that series before salvaging the finale. Although the series now switches to Chicago, Pittsburgh has been playing well for a long stretch and there is no question they are capable of competing with any of the other teams in the NL Central. 

Chris Archer (RHP - PIT) has said he has ditched his two-seam fastball since June 22 because batters had an .867 SLG against the pitch, and is trying to rely more heavily on his slider, which has been his best strikeout pitch in 2019 (23.7% whiff rate), as well as throughout his career. He faced the Cubs with that tweaked repertoire in his last start, with mixed results, allowing three runs on 5 hits and three walks but also striking out eight. We’ll live with whatever Archer brings, as this is more of a bet on Pittsburgh to beat the Cubbies taking back an inflated price. 

In 47 innings at Wrigley this year, Yu Darvish has been tagged for 12 jacks while walking 26 batters. Darvish has the ability to strike out batters but it’s all feast or famine and the Pirates do not strike out a lot. In nine starts at Wrigley this year, Darvish is winless with an ERA/xERA split of 6.23/6.17. If he wins his first game at Wrigley this year, good on him but this is a wager we have to make and allow the chips to fall where they may.

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