Final score: Pirates 4–2 White Sox ·Engine pick: Chicago White Sox to win ✗ Missed
Graded 2026-09-10 07:00:19 · engine mlb-sim-1.1.
Cyan is the model’s favourite, red the underdog.
Oldest on the left, most recent on the right — hover any result for the opponent and score.
| Pirates | White Sox | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 73-73 | 75-70 |
| Win % | .500 | .517 |
| Division | NL Central | AL Central |
| Division rank | 3rd | 1st |
| Games back | 17.5 | - |
| Last 10 | 8-2 | 3-7 |
| Streak | W3 | L2 |
| Home record | 38-34 | 43-30 |
| Away record | 35-39 | 32-40 |
| Runs scored/gm | 4.84 | 4.72 |
| Runs allowed/gm | 4.61 | 4.44 |
| Run differential | +34 | +41 |
The engine makes Chicago White Sox a 52.9% pick to win — the thinnest of leans, barely past a coin flip. Baseball punishes certainty: the best team in the league still loses roughly four nights in ten. It is filed as coin flip, the bottom tier: the inputs point in different directions and the engine is not claiming to know. That is published rather than dressed up.
Pirates come in 7-3 over their last 10, scoring 4.60 and conceding 3.80 runs a game. White Sox are 4-6 in their last 10 at 3.50 scored and 3.90 allowed. Pirates arrive in the better shape, though ten games is a short window and form is weighted lightly here.
On the mound it is Lake Bachar for Pirates against Davis Martin for White Sox — the largest single input on this page. One start moves a baseball projection further than a full lineup change would, which is why the engine waits for both probables before scoring a game.
Season run differential reads +34 for Pirates and +41 for White Sox. Per game that is 4.84 scored against 4.61 allowed, versus 4.72 and 4.44. Close enough that season quality is not the deciding input here — the pitching matchup does more work than the standings.
White Sox are 43-30 at home, Pirates 35-39 on the road. Home advantage in baseball is real but small — historically worth something near 54%, not the lopsided edge it carries elsewhere — so the splits inform this projection without dominating it. The ballpark matters more than the venue: run environment varies more between parks than between lineups.
The projected total is 9.7 runs — a game that should breathe. Through the first five innings, before the bullpens take over, it favours White Sox at 48% — under half because the first five is a three-way market: five innings can finish level, and that outcome takes a share of the book. Model and de-vigged market land within a couple of points of each other, which is a calibration check passed rather than an opportunity found — worth saying plainly.
This pick was published before first pitch and graded against the final score above — right or wrong, it stays on the page.
8th Day Engine · mlb-sim-1.1
Modelled probabilities from a deterministic engine, not betting advice. Every pick is published before the game and graded after it on the accuracy page.