Pirates Win Total Prediction
The Pittsburgh Pirates are among several teams in Major League Baseball that are enduring a rebuild. With a new GM and a new manager, how many wins will the Bucs accumulate in 2020? Their win total has been set at 70.5.
Pirates Win Total Odds
According to oddsmakers from online sportsbook Sportsbook.com, the Pirates’ win total for 2020 is sitting at 70.5. While the over offer odds of 11/10, these oddsmakers are juicing the odds to the under, which carries odds of 5.7.
Pirates Offseason Moves
The Pirates are rarely a big player in free agent, let alone a player of any sort when it comes to offseason moves. Owner Bob Nutting rarely invests big money into the on-field product, although he did make changes to the general manager (Neal Huntington is out, Ben Cherington is in) and manager (Clint Hurdle is out, Derek Shelton is in) positions.
Pittsburgh did make an offseason move, although it was to jettison outfielder Starling Marte to the Diamondbacks in exchange for infield prospect Liover Peguero, pitching prospect Brennan Malone and international bonus pool space. While Marte is a health risk (he’s played 140 games just once in the last four seasons), he’s also coming off a year that saw him post career highs nearly across the board.
Pirates Win Total Prediction
Part of me wants to take the over with the National League Central largely in flux. The Cardinals should have excellent pitching and defense again this season, but their lineup is weak outside of Paul Goldschmidt. The Reds are improved on paper, but we’ll see what happens when the games count. The Cubs still have a ton of talent, but rumors persist that they’ll trade Kris Bryant and they weren’t willing to engage Anthony Rizzo on a long-term contract extension so the bottom could also fall out in Chicago sooner rather than later. The Brewers, meanwhile, look like they’re closer to retooling than they are to taking the next step after making the postseason in each of the last two seasons.
Despite those questions facing other NL Central teams, the Pirates are clearly the worst of the worst. They traded Gerrit Cole two years ago and that return looks incredibly weak in hindsight. Their trade for former Rays ace Chris Archer hasn’t panned out and they dealt one of their final good bats in Marte this offseason. Thus, despite the questions surrounding the Reds, Cardinals, Cubs and Brewers, those questions pale in comparison to what the Pirates are going to over this this season.
2020 MLB Win Total Prediction: Pittsburgh Pirates UNDER 70.5 Wins