If the 54-47 Chicago Cubs are going to make some headway on the 59-42 Pittsburgh Pirates in the chase for the NL Wild Card spots, winning Monday's game between these two at PNC Park would be a good start.
PITCHING MATCHUP
The numbers for Jon Lester this year are starting to get a little scary for opposing hitters, and the Pirates very well could find that out on Monday. The lefty has brought his strikeout rate up to a 9.23 K/9 after becoming the first Cubs left-hander in five decades to fan 14 men in a game in his last start.
Lester has a 3.26 ERA in spite of the fact that his LOB % is just a modest 72.4 percent.
What's really the telling stat here is Lester's FIP of 2.92. That's lower than David Price, Scott Kazmir and Johnny Cueto, and it's right there with studs like Sonny Gray, Zack Greinke and Gerrit Cole.
The thing you know about Lester is that he is going to have an opportunity to have a lot of short innings due to his ability to get strikeouts. It's not often that he ends up conceding a ton of big innings, something which live bettors can thrive off of in this game.
The Pirates are countering with a boom-or-bust prospect in Francisco Liriano, assuming that they hold their spots in the rotation accordingly and don't slot in the newly acquired Joe Blanton in a starter's role.
Of course, Liriano isn't going to kill you in live betting either. Liriano is very likely to throw a lot more zeroes on the board than anything else, as demonstrated by his nine total earned runs allowed in his last six starts.
However, Liriano isn't always efficient. He has averaged almost 18 pitches per start in his last three outings, and that's the type of stat which causes even the best starting pitchers to get run out of games early. Big innings could be right around the corner if the lefty keeps up like that, something which live bettors should be very aware of.
ADVANCED STATS
You might not have noticed, but ever since the Pirates acquired Aramis Ramirez from the Brewers, they've been pretty darn good offensively, averaging 6.14 runs per game.
Sure, the rest of this team is hitting as well, but it should be hitting. In these seven days, the Bucs are slugging a whopping .498 with a .209 ISO.
There's too much talent in this lineup to be denied, and live bettors should love all of those crooked numbers which have gone up on the board of late.
TALKING BULLPENS
We're going to spend some time here talking about the Pirates bullpen as well, as we think this is the much more likely of the two pens to be called upon for big innings.
The Pirates made another subtle move before the deadline by acquiring Joakim Soria from the Tigers.
Soria has closing experience, and he has big game experience as well. He'll slot in nicely behind Mark Melancon late in games, and all of a sudden, between these two and Jared Hughes, Pittsburgh might have one of the best bullpens in baseball.
Don’t be surprised if Clint Hurdle starts to play games like the Yankees do, asking his starters to get through six innings, then turning the ball over to his three amigos in the pen to finish the job in succession. There's a great chance if Liriano can get through six with the lead, live bettors can celebrate an early victory with three really strong arms set to come out for the seventh, eighth and ninth.
The MLB lines for this Monday contest will first be released by BookMaker Sportsbook. Gamble on the game between every half inning with BookMaker's live betting feature. Along with an adjusted in-game moneyline, you can wager on what will happen in the next at-bat or how many runs will be scored in the next inning. Live betting is the most exciting way to play!
Need to fund your account before the big game but don't have your computer? No problem! BookMaker Sportsbook now offers a mobile betting cashier so you can deposit money directly from your smartphone. Don't miss out on getting paid because you couldn't bet. Click here, and deposit at BookMaker now! The ballgame pitting the Chicago Cubs versus the Pittsburgh Pirates will commence Monday, August 3, 2015 at 7:05 p.m. ET at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, PA. You can watch the contest live on ESPN.
