- 1 Pittsburgh Pirates vs Los Angeles Angels: 16.5 games apart, and one team has completely fallen apart
- 2 Pittsburgh Pirates: above .500 at PNC Park
- 3 Los Angeles Angels: 23 wins and 44 losses on the road
- 4 MLB Pick Pittsburgh Pirates vs Los Angeles Angels
- 5 First, a quick word on our free picks
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information can change fast
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling first
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About the images…
Pittsburgh Pirates vs Los Angeles Angels: 16.5 games apart, and one team has completely fallen apart 
Pittsburgh come in at 70-72. Los Angeles head to PNC Park at 53-88.
That leaves the clubs 16.5 games apart, one of the biggest gaps on Sunday’s slate. Neither side is in the playoff picture, but their form is worlds apart.
The Angels sit last in the American League West and are 17 games off the final wild-card spot. Their season has been over for a long time out in California.
Sunday, September 6, wraps up this series in Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh are playing for their final position and for the futures of their younger players.
One stat says it all: Los Angeles have won only one of their last 10 games. That skid has come at the worst possible time for a team already 34 games below .500.
Their road record seals the case, and it is the main reason this matchup leans so heavily toward the Pirates.
Late-season games between eliminated teams always bring a different kind of logic. Rosters get bigger, young players get minutes, and results get a lot less predictable than when the race is still on.
Still, there are limits to that uncertainty when the talent gap is 16.5 games. Los Angeles are not just out of it; they are also in the middle of their worst stretch of the year.
Pittsburgh Pirates: above .500 at PNC Park 
The Pirates are 70-72 overall. Two games under .500, and with nothing left to chase in the standings.
But the home split tells a different story. Pittsburgh are 37-33 at PNC Park, a winning record in their own building.
That gap shows where most of their damage has been done: on the road. At home, they are far more competitive.
Recent results back that up. In late August, Pittsburgh beat San Diego 1-0, with Oneil Cruz launching a ninth-inning homer off Mason Miller, who had not allowed a ball over the fence since August 2025.
Winning 1-0 against a playoff contender says plenty about the Pirates’ pitching. That is the part of their game they can trust when the bats go quiet.
Against a team that has won once in 10, that kind of run prevention matters even more.
PNC Park is one of the more pitcher-friendly stadiums in the National League. The dimensions and the setting both help keep visiting offenses in check.
That plays straight into Pittsburgh’s strengths. An attack as flat as the Angels’ rarely gets a clean breakout here.
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Los Angeles Angels: 23 wins and 44 losses on the road 
The Angels are 53-88 overall. That is 35 games under .500, one of the worst records in Major League Baseball.
The road numbers are even uglier: 23-44. Los Angeles lose nearly two of every three away from California.
That is the number that matters most here. A team winning only a third of its road games offers no real reason for confidence, even against a side that is also below .500.
The immediate form makes it worse. One win in their last 10 puts the Angels in the deepest slump they have had all season as they head into this trip.
Their last real flashpoint came in early September, when Los Angeles lost 6-3 to the Yankees in Anaheim after giving up five runs in the 10th inning. It was a neat summary of a team that hangs around for nine innings, then folds.
That inability to finish close games has been a season-long problem.
There is also a bigger picture off the field. Kroenke Sports & Entertainment announced in early September that it had agreed to buy a majority stake in the franchise, which has been owned by Arte Moreno since 2003.
The deal is due to close in the first quarter of 2027 and does not change anything on the field right away. But it does confirm that a new chapter is coming for a club with no short-term sporting outlook.
This three-game set also puts pressure on both rotations. Asking for three starting pitchers in three days quickly exposes how deep a roster really is at this stage of the season.
On that front, Pittsburgh have the edge. The Pirates have built their identity around the mound, while Los Angeles are struggling in every area.
MLB Pick Pittsburgh Pirates vs Los Angeles Angels
Our pick: Pittsburgh Pirates to win
The Angels’ 23-44 road record leaves little room for debate. Los Angeles lose two out of three away from home and arrive in Pennsylvania with just one win from their last 10.
Pittsburgh, by contrast, are 37-33 at PNC Park and just showed against San Diego that they can grind out a 1-0 win against a playoff side. Their pitching is exactly the kind of weapon that can punish a struggling lineup.
Take Pittsburgh at home. The Pirates have nothing left to play for in the standings, but the gap in form and road performance is just too wide to ignore.
The only argument against it is that Pittsburgh are also below .500. A sensible stake makes more sense than going in hard.
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