Tigers at Pirates Prediction: Odds, expert picks, starting pitchers, betting trends, and stats for July 21
The Tigers became the first team in the league to reach 60 wins as Detroit beat the Rangers, 2-1 on Sunday Night Baseball. That win avoided a reverse sweep to Texas and the test doesn't get an easier when they travel to Pittsburgh to face the CY Young favorite.
Pittsburgh is coming off a series where they were swept by the White Sox and outscored 27-7 (sigh). As a Pirates fan, this is the only day of the week we look forward to — Skenes day.
Let's dive into the matchup and find a sweat or two. We've got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch first pitch, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game details & how to watch Tigers at Pirates
Date: Monday, July 21, 2025
Time: 6:40PM EST
Site: PNC Park
City: Pittsburgh, PA
Network/Streaming: FDSNDT, SNP
Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.
Odds for the Tigers at the Pirates
The latest odds as of Monday:
Moneyline: Tigers (+102), Pirates (-122)
Spread: Pirates -1.5
Total: 7.0 runs
Probable starting pitchers for Tigers at Pirates
Pitching matchup for July 21, 2025: Jack Flaherty vs. Paul Skenes
Tigers: Jack Flaherty, (5-9, 4.65 ERA)Last outing: 5.0 Innings Pitched, 2 Earned Runs Allowed, 4 Hits Allowed, 2 Walks, and 7 Strikeouts
Pirates: Paul Skenes, (4-8, 2.01 ERA)Last outing: 5.0 Innings Pitched, 2 Earned Runs Allowed, 5 Hits Allowed, 0 Walks, and 6 Strikeouts
Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type!
Expert picks & predictions for tonight's game between the Tigers and the Pirates
Rotoworld Best Bet
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Monday's game between the Tigers and the Pirates:
Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play on the Moneyline.
Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Detroit Tigers at +1.5.
Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 7.0.
Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC.
Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Tigers at Pirates
The Pirates have lost 10 of their last 11 games
The Under is 4-1 in the Tigers' last 5 road games
The Pirates are 9-11 in Skenes' 20 starts
Skenes has allowed 2 earned runs or less in 17 of 20 starts
The Tigers are 6-13 in Flaherty's 19 starts
If you're looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
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Which Active MLB Players Have a Shot at the Baseball Hall of Fame?
Anyone can debate which retired players should enter the Baseball Hall of Fame. Their careers are wrapped up, all the evidence is already there. Active players are where the real game is. So let's look at which ones have the best shot of reaching Cooperstown, from oldest to youngest. Now, we'll be reasonable: we're not going to say that 23-year-old, second-year Paul Skenes is a surefire Hall of Famer if only he can keep it up for another 15 seasons or so. You already know as much! These candidates are those in their 30s and have strong cases. Let's look at what those players still need to do — if anything — to convince Hall of Fame voters years from now. All statistics are through July 24, 2025. Justin Verlander (42 years old, 20 seasons, 80 bWAR) Verlander might not have much left in the tank these days, but that's not a problem for our purposes: his Hall of Fame election is a sure thing, as he's one of the 20 or so greatest pitchers of all-time, one who won a Cy Young at 39 with one of the greatest-ever seasons for a pitcher that age — even better than Cy Young himself at 39. For years now, FanGraphs' Jay Jaffe has used a system called "JAWS" that determines Hall-worthiness for players based on a calculation of their peak years and their career in total, using wins above replacement for inputs. Verlander's JAWS rating ranks 19th all-time among starting pitchers. Every pitcher ahead of him — and many more behind him — are already in Cooperstown, or headed there themselves. Max Scherzer (40 years old, 18 seasons, 74 bWAR) Scherzer is right behind Verlander in basically everything. Verlander is 11th all-time in strikeouts, and Scherzer is 12th, with both capable of entering the top 10 before they call it quits. Verlander is 19th in JAWS, among starters all-time, Scherzer is 27th. They've both won three Cy Young awards, and they were even teammates with the Tigers for a stretch there. There is no reality in which Scherzer doesn't follow Verlander into the Hall of Fame, either: they're not just two of the best of their era, but two of the best ever. Yu Darvish (38 years old, 13 seasons, 33 bWAR) Darvish doesn't have as obvious a Hall of Fame case as either Verlander or Scherzer, but it's there. Darvish didn't join MLB until he was already 25 years old, and he had seven years of Nippon Professional Baseball under his belt. In 13 MLB seasons, Darvish has a 3.63 ERA that translates to a 116 ERA+, with over 2,018 strikeouts and a 3.7 K/BB in 1,722 innings. In those seven years in NPB, Darvish logged 1,268 innings with another 1,250 strikeouts and a 3.8 K/BB, all with a 1.99 ERA. All told as a professional major-league player, Darvish has 20 seasons behind him at 38 years old, an ERA of 2.95, and is one of just 25 pitchers between MLB and NPB to strike out at least 3,000 batters, at 3,268 — the difference between Darvish and the rest is that he racked up those Ks in two countries. Paul Goldschmidt (37 years old, 15 seasons, 64 bWAR) Goldschmidt led the NL in homers with 36 in 2013 while with the Diamondbacks, and took home NL MVP honors in 2022 with the Cardinals. He's a seven-time All-Star with 370 career home runs who has also won four Gold Gloves in his career — the kind of thing that will make up for him eventually hitting "just" 400 career homers, if he gets to that point. That "if" is probably load-bearing as far as his Cooperstown chances go: if he plays until he's 40 and keeps hitting well enough until that point, the argument is easier. Clayton Kershaw (37 years old, 18 seasons, 77 bWAR) Kershaw is arguably the single most dominant pitcher of his generation, one with a 2.52 ERA for his entire career who was at 2.10 during his seven-year peak. He reached 3,000 career strikeouts in 2025, one of just 20 MLB pitchers to manage the feat, and every one of them is in Cooperstown — or will be, in the case of Verlander and Scherzer — besides Roger Clemens, who could still make it someday even without the BBWAA. Jacob deGrom (37 years old, 12 seasons, 45 bWAR) The only reason Kershaw is "arguably" the most dominant pitcher of his generation is because Jacob deGrom exists. DeGrom hasn't been as healthy as Kershaw, and he also got started far later, when he was already 26 compared to the Dodgers' lifer debuting at 20. The active MLB leader in ERA, though? That's deGrom, at 2.50. He's the all-time leader in strikeout-to-walk ratio, and a two-time Cy Young winner despite a five-year chunk of his career where he threw between 10 and 92 innings per season. If deGrom can stay healthy for the next few years, and pitch like he has in his resurgent 2025 with the Rangers, he might just make it. Chris Sale (36 years old, 15 seasons, 56 bWAR) Sale is no sure thing at this point, but he won a Cy Young in 2024 with the Braves, and is a nine-time All-Star despite injuries that derailed entire seasons and beginning his career as a reliever. He's the fastest-ever to 2,500 strikeouts by innings, and, assuming health, is a lock to reach 3,000 given he led the NL in Ks and K/9 last summer, and is actually striking out slightly more hitters on a rate basis this season. He might not finish with the gaudy career totals of Verlander or Scherzer, but if Sale has even a couple of great seasons left, he'll make it onto a very exclusive list that's basically guaranteed enshrinement to this point. Freddie Freeman (35 years old, 16 seasons, 62 bWAR) Much depends on how Freeman ages, but to this point, he's done a fantastic job of that. He's a career .300/.387/.510 hitter, the active leader in doubles with 535 — that's good for 42nd all-time at the moment — and has 353 homers. He has a shot at 3,000 hits, depending on — again — how he ages, has made nine All-Star teams, won an MVP, and has been terrifyingly consistent for well over a decade now. Giancarlo Stanton (35 years old, 16 seasons, 46 bWAR) Everything comes down to health for Stanton, which is not what you want to hear if you're his Hall of Fame chances. Health has been the thing that's escaped him the most of late — even years where he's on the field, injuries can be a problem, such as in 2024 when a severe case of tennis elbow hampered his numbers. With that being said, he's 66 homers shy of 500 for his career, and that magical round number might be what it takes to get him to the Hall: he's either going to get there because he's healthy enough to hit, or fall short because he's too injured to stick any longer. Jose Altuve (35 years old, 15 seasons, 54 bWAR) Altuve had to move off of second base in 2025 and head to the Astros' outfield, but at least he's got the bat for it. He has a 123 OPS+ this summer, just five points shy of his career mark, and he's likely to finish his career as a member of a rare club, with 300 home runs and 300 stolen bases, a feat just eight others have achieved to this point (but likely nine by the time Altuve would get there). He's also an MVP and multi-time champion, with three batting titles and a whole bunch of Silver Sluggers on the mantle. He's not a guarantee, but the trajectory is still obvious. Gerrit Cole (34 years old, 12 seasons, 43 bWAR) Losing 2025 to Tommy John surgery doesn't help matters, but Cole won the 2023 AL Cy Young, has already racked up 2,251 strikeouts, and has been, health aside, incredible ever since leaving the Pirates back in 2018. He's no shoo-in, though: Cole has a whole lot of his career left to prove that he can finish what he's started, but he can't afford to lose anymore time to major injuries, nor suffer any season that resembles his work in Pittsburgh if he's to do that. Nolan Arenado (34 years old, 13 seasons, 58 bWAR) The thing about being the modern-day Brooks Robinson is that the actual Robinson was still a productive hitter late into his career, and a legendary fielder until nearly the end of it. Arenado is 34, but he's already slipping, as he's batting just .241/.299/.378 in 2025. The defense still provides for a lot, but he's going to need to bounce back with the bat a little bit to keep from treading water, and give himself more time to add to his career totals on the hits and homers side. Mike Trout (33 years old, 15 seasons, 87 bWAR) The active leader in wins above replacement, Trout has basically taken the Ken Griffey Jr. path, in that his 20s were as valuable as entire Hall of Fame careers of other players, but in his 30s, injuries have slowed him. Even with that, if Trout retired tomorrow, he'd already be Cooperstown-worthy — he has been that already for years. The thing the rest of his career is about is just how inner-circle he is. Aaron Judge (33 years old, 10 seasons, 59 bWAR) Judge got a late-ish start, as he debuted at 24, and wasn't a full-time member of the Yankees' lineup until the next year. He has more than made up for lost time: he's the fastest-ever to 350 homers by games played, and likely to be the swiftest to 400, as well. In 10 years' time, he's put up an entire Hall-worthy career in all but counting stats, and has done so while also being astonishingly good defensively for anyone, not just a player of his prodigious size. Judge is the greatest hitter in MLB, and one of the all-time greats in that regard. The rest is just adding on to that legacy. Manny Machado (33 years old, 14 seasons, 61 bWAR) Machaco might end up being a member of both the 3,000-hit and 500-homer clubs, both elite on their own, but together? A true rarity , as just seven players have achieved the feat. Now, Machado might not reach either number, or he might only get to one, but even proximity to this would be a Hall of Fame-worthy career. And he's on track to at least be close to that level of history. José Ramírez (32 years old, 13 seasons, 56 bWAR) Ramírez already joined the 250-250 club for home runs and steals, and is approaching the far rarer 300-300 threshold, with sights on the Barry Bonds-exclusive 350-350 and 400-400 after that. Maybe Ramírez doesn't get that high, but it would frankly be shocking if not, considering he just seems to keep getting better: in his age-32 season, the Guardians' third baseman is hitting .297/.372/.530 with 21 homers and 31 steals, and his peak just seems to keep going. His most significant hurdle is recognition: Ramírez might retire as one of the greatest players to never win an MVP, and playing in Cleveland doesn't do him any favorites as far as nationwide acclaim goes, but he's been one of MLB's best for a decade now. Mookie Betts (32 years old, 12 seasons, 73 bWAR) Betts is having a tough 2025, but he was so good for so long in so many ways that it might not matter if he's beginning to slip at this stage of his career. As is, despite hitting .238/.309/.370 this year for a below-average 91 OPS, Betts is now a shortstop, and his defensive is thriving there: with two-plus months of season to go, he's already been an above-average player for the year. More years like that, even if the bat has declined, will put him over the finish line. And if the bat rebounds? Then it's time for his third productive act. Bryce Harper (32 years old, 14 seasons, 53 bWAR) Harper has missed time like Trout, though not as much. He's had MVP-level performances, but not as sustained as those of Betts. However, any disappointment that exists around Harper has to do with his not being the best player in baseball, and instead being one who merely remains on the road to Cooperstown. Harper is batting .271/.378/.502 as a 32-year-old, with 14 homers in 78 games. His bat isn't what it was at his very peak, no, but it's still better than most, and it staying that way will be the key to his induction someday. Francisco Lindor (31 years old, 11 seasons, 53 bWAR) Unlike his former teammate Jose Ramirez, Lindor lives under the New York spotlight, and he's done some great things while in its glare. He hasn't won an MVP award, either, but he's put up MVP-caliber campaigns between his bat and glove: so long as they both keep up what they've been managing for a few more years, Lindor will look like a more obvious pick. There's a lot of space between then and now, though, for Lindor to fall off and short of Cooperstown. Alex Bregman (31 years old, 10 seasons, 42 bWAR) A player with even less wiggle room in this regard is Bregman, who in 10 years has gone from being one of MLB's very best to average and back up to a midpoint between the two. However, he also seems to have found some of the old him in Boston, as he's in the midst of his best offensive season in a few years: if he sticks with the Red Sox on his current deal or signs an extension, and continues to love hitting in Fenway, he might just make up for lost time. It's an uphill battle, however, given he's well behind the pace of Lindor at this point, but not an impossible climb. Shohei Ohtani (31 years old, 8 seasons, 49 bWAR) Even with the time missed on the mound, in just eight years, Ohtani has already put up a career with more value than Bregman's and just behind the likes of Lindor and Harper. He doesn't actually need to be elite from here on out to have a Hall of Fame-worthy career, given he's the most famous baseball player in the world for very good reasons — there has literally never been a player like him before, and trying to imagine another afterward is difficult to comprehend even though we know what that kind of player looks like, because he's out there every night in the present. That the production matches up with the promise is icing on the proverbial cake. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account , and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! recommended Item 1 of 2 Get more from the Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
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Ichiro Suzuki Already Had A Hall of Fame Career. So, He Did It Again.
Ichiro Suzuki was one of the greatest baseball players in history, and then he came to America. He was so popular that, all the way back in 1994 in his native Japan, he began to use "Ichiro" on the back of his team jersey rather than "Suzuki." Since Suzuki was such a common family name, his team believed it would be stellar marketing – a plan that continued when he joined the Seattle Mariners. Consider how often "Ichiro" appears to "Suzuki" in this piece, and ask yourself if that plan worked. For the Baseball Hall of Fame's purposes, and likely those of the majority of its voters, the career of Ichiro began in 2001 with the Mariners when he was already 27 years old. The record books state that he had 3,089 hits, and that it took him until 2016 to record the 3,000th of his career. In one sense, this is all true: it is when he made it to MLB, after all. But he did not arrive out of a void of nothingness. He was fully formed, a massive star in his home country of Japan who was making the trek to MLB for a new challenge. One he was more than qualified for, despite the protests and concerns of scouts, fans, and certain members of the media who weren't sure what to make of the little guy with the weird swing. Until they saw what he and that swing could do. From age 18 through 26, Ichiro played in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league. As a teenager, he was a bench player playing sporadically — he wasn't even drafted until the fourth round since he was 5-foot-9 and skinny. He was selected for his pitching more than his bat, despite thriving at the plate in high school. It didn't help that Orix BlueWave manager, Shōzō Doi, disliked his swing, but he eventually relented in keeping Ichiro in the outfield — just in the minors instead. While ordered to fix Ichiro's unorthodox swing by Doi, minor-league hitting coach Kenichiro Kawamura refused, going so far as to state that he would quit rather than change the greatest swing he'd ever seen. With new manager Akira Ōgi at the helm of Orix, the demands to change Ichiro's swing or turn him into a pitcher relented. Instead, after a two-year strength program under Kawamura, Ichiro would play every day for Orix in the bigs, and win his first of seven-consecutive batting titles while hitting .385/.445/.549 in a league where the average hitter put up a line of .271/.341/.411. That year, Suzuki was the first player in NPB history to record 200 hits in a season, with 211. If that doesn't sound like many knocks, consider that the NPB season was then just 130 games long — 32 fewer than MLB's at the same time. Even with the poor showing in NPB in his teen years, Ichiro hit a combined .353/.421/.522 with 211 doubles, 23 triples and 118 homers — as well as 199 stolen bases — in his nine years with Orix. In addition to the seven-consecutive batting titles, Ichiro would win three Pacific League MVPs in a row, help end a 12-year pennant drought in his second full season in NPB in 1995, and bring the Orix BlueWave a championship in the Japan Series in 1996. When Ichiro joined the Mariners in 2001, he won the Rookie of the Year and AL MVP awards, was named an All-Star, took home Gold Glove and Silver Slugger honors, and helped lead the Mariners to 116 wins, tied for the most ever in an MLB season. He led the majors with 242 hits and 56 steals, won the AL batting title while hitting .350/.381/.457, and had eight outfield assists; Ichiro probably would have had more than that if it wasn't so obviously a bad idea to run on his cannon of an arm. He did have potential as a pitcher, after all. 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Following that seven-year run of .353/.421/.522 with Orix, his 2001 through 2010 with the Mariners produced a .331/.376/.430 line with 90 more homers, 258 doubles, 71 triples, another 383 stolen bases and a decade of brilliant defensive work in right field, and 2,244 of his eventual 3,000-plus MLB hits. At that point, the 37-year-old Ichiro already had over 3,000 career hits in major leagues. Over 3,500 of them, in fact. It would take another six seasons for 3,000 hits to be celebrated, however, since the MLB-focused work was looking at just that, but he was already over 4,000 by then. When Ichiro's career finally did come to an end, it featured 4,367 hits — 927 of them for extra bases — as well as 708 steals and a career line of .322/.373/.434. And this in spite of struggles both at the beginning and end of his career, spanning multiple years. The Baseball Hall of Fame and its voters might not necessarily be celebrating both of these parts of his career as one, but they could have. The Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame certainly is: despite spending nine seasons in NPB, just seven of them full ones, he was elected to those halls in 2025 in his first year of eligibility, as well. Breaking down those walls a little, recognizing that Ichiro would have been an all-time great regardless of where he played, is nothing but an ode to the man who knocked down plenty of those walls himself in his 28 years in major leagues. He was one of baseball's most accomplished and best players, and then Ichiro showed up in Seattle, and did it all over again. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account , and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! recommended Item 1 of 2 Get more from the Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
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Yankees slugger Aaron Judge sidelined with 'elbow issue' as concern mounts: 'We'll see'
The New York Yankees have struggled lately. Friday's loss to the Philadelphia Phillies marked a second consecutive defeat and was the team's fourth loss in its last ten games. However, "The Bronx Bombers" concerns could mount as the team monitors the health of superstar Aaron Judge. The reigning American League MVP was scratched from Saturday's lineup due to what Yankees manager Aaron Boone described as an "elbow issue." "He's dealing with an elbow issue," Boone told reporters Saturday morning. Boone also noted that Judge experienced some difficulty when he threw the ball from the outfield during Friday's 12-5 loss to the Phillies. Judge was not pulled from the lineup in that game. The apparent discomfort did ultimately prompt an MRI. On Saturday morning, Boone said the team was still waiting for the imaging results. "Obviously, you guys asked about it in Toronto, but he felt like it was fine on the off day," Boone said. "Then, (Friday) night, he couldn't really throw well from the outfield, so he came in today and got imaging on that. Obviously it's a concern, but we'll wait and see." Judge went hitless on Friday, but did record an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning. Judge was listed as the Yankees designated hitter when New York played the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday. He returned to his normal spot in right field on Friday as the Yankees opened a three-game series against the Phillies.
