Ballpark Figures – Week 3


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Streaky Teams (entering Monday)
Wins and Losses Streak Over/Under Streak
Cincinnati 0-8 past eight games Chicago White Sox Under 1-8-1 past 10 games
Detroit 5-0 past five games L.A. Angels Under 1-9 past 10 games
L.A. Dodgers 5-0 past five games L.A. Dodgers Over 8-2 past 10 games

Motorin'
The Detroit Tigers weren't expected to do much, but after 10 games they find themselves perched atop the American League Central Division by a half-game over the Cleveland Indians. The two sides will square off at Comerica in the Motor City on Tuesday afternoon to kick off a three-game set. If the Tigers are going to have any success they'll need to figure out a way to solve their nemesis, the Indians.

The Indians will roll out Corey Kluber, and the Tribe are 27-9 in his past 36 starts against American League Central Division foes. A big reason Cleveland has been success is their dominance inside the division, going 82-37 in their past 119 games against AL Central foes. However, the Tribe is 1-5 in the past six starts by Kluber on the road dating back to last summer. Cleveland is also a poor 1-5 in the past six road outings against right-handed starting pitchers. The Tigers are 5-0 in their past five vs. RHP, although they're a dismal 6-15 in Jordan Zimmermann's past 21 home starts and 1-7 in his past eight tries at home against teams with a winning overall mark. 

 In this series, the Indians are 11-4 in the past 15 trips to Motown, while going 43-17 in the past 60 meetings overall. They have won five straight starts by Kluber against the Tigers, and they're 5-1 in his past six road outings at Comerica. The Tigers, on the other hand, are 0-6 in Zimmermann's past six tries against Cleveland, and 0-4 in his past four home starts by Zimmermann against their division rivals. The over is 3-0-1 in the past four meetings between these two sides, too.

Looking Ahead

Monday, April 8
Cubs LHP Jon Lester host the surprising Bucs, who are 5-3 out of the gate, two games off the pace behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers. Melky Cabrera knows him well, going 14-for-51 (.275) with two doubles, a homer and four RBI in their history against each other. Francisco Cervelli has also had some limited success against the southpaw, going 10-for-38 (.263) with a double, two homers and 10 RBI. The rest of the current roster combined has just 13 RBI against Lester in 174 at-bats.

The Bucs have won four straight inside the NL Central, and they're 10-4 in the past 14 starts on the road by Jameson Taillon. They're also 7-3 in his past 10 starts, and 8-3 in the past 11 starts by Taillon against divisional foes. The Cubbies have won 38 of Lester's past 52 home starts, and they're 18-8 in his past 26 at Wrigley Field against teams with a winning record. Chicago has also won 38 of his past 56 starts against NL Central opponents.

The Padres and Giants square off at AT&T Park in San Francisco to kick off a new series on Monday. San Francisco hopes to have a little more offense than they did in their four-game set to open the season in San Diego when they lost three of the first four games while totaling just five runs of support for their pitchers. The good news is that the Giants yielded just 11 runs in the four-game set, showing off solid pitching.

LHP Eric Lauer takes the ball, and the Padres are 5-2 in his past seven starts. He'll be up against LHP Madison Bumgarner. The Giants are 1-4 in MadBum's past five starts against NL West foes, while going 1-5 in his past six against teams with a winning record. The Giants have really struggled inside the NL West, too, going just 2-9 in the past 11 inside the division. They're also 2-6 in the past eight vs. LHP, too. The 'under' has cashed in five straight meetings, and is 4-1 in the past five meetings in San Francisco, too. There are a lot of batters who have some ugly numbers against MadBum. Austin Hedges and Eric Hosmer are each 0-for-10 against the southpaw, while Manny Machado is 2-for-11 (.182) in their limited dealings. The player with the most history against Bumgarner, Wil Myers, is 7-for-40 (.175) with two doubles, two homers and 11 strikeouts. The only batter with any measure of success against the San Francisco southpaw is Hunter Renfroe, who is 5-for-13 (.385) with two doubles, two homers and four RBI.

Weather Report
The weather looks good across the board, with the exception of San Francisco. The precipitation chances are 40 percent or less until 8 p.m. PDT local time before picking up to around 50 percent. It wouldn't be surprising to see the tarpaulin come out for the Padres-Giants battle.

Tuesday, April 9
Toronto and Boston kick off a set at Fenway Park on Tuesday evening. Blue Jays RHP Matt Shoemaker will make his first start in Fenway Park in a Jays uniform. Red Sox LHP Chris Sale knows the Jays well, though, and Boston is 6-1 in his past seven against AL East foes, and 5-2 in his past seven tries against Toronto. The Blue Jays are 9-27 in their past 36 against the Red Sox, and 1-10 in their past 11 trips to Fenway Park. Perhaps this will snap Sale into form, as he is an uncharacteristic 0-2 with an 8.00 ERA and 1.44 WHIP through two outings.

The middle game of the Nationals-Phillies seres is a tasty pitching matchup with RHP Stephen Strasburg and RHP Aaron Nola dueling. For what it's worth, the Nationals are 9-0 in Strasburg's past nine outings on a Tuesday. More importantly, they're 39-12 in his past 51 starts on the road. The Phillies are 22-9 in Nola's past 31 starts, and 13-5 in his past 18 inside the National League East. In this series, it has been Strasburg dominating the Phils, so it will be interesting to see if Bryce Harper can tip the scales. The Nats are 17-4 in his past 21 aginst the Phillies, and 7-1 in his past eight starts at Citizens Bank Park. The Phils are 5-11 in Nola's past 16 tries vs. Washington, and 2-6 in his past eight at home. The under is also 6-0 in Strasburg's past six road starts against the Phils, while going 7-2 in Nola's past nine against the Nats.

Weather Report
The wind will be blowing out at Great American Ball Park for the Miami Marlins-Cincinnati Reds game, with a jetstream blowing 10-13 mph to the right-center power alley. It will be the opposite for the Oakland-Baltimore gaem blowing into the faces of the batters from the left-center field power alley at a 11-14 mph clip. The wind will be howling in the Golden State, too, with the wind blowing out to McCovey Cove at 17-21 mph for the game between the Padres-Giants. The winds will be gusting 15-18 mph for the Brewers-Angels interleague contest, but it will be blowing more from third base to third base, favoring left-handed batters.

As far as rain, watch Queens for the interleague battle between the Twins and Mets. The forecast calls for a 40 percent chance of rain, tapering off by 10 p.m. EDT, so they should be able to get it in.