The Pittsburgh Pirates are off to a fast start in the 2026 season, winning six of their first nine games behind one of the top pitching staffs in MLB (sixth in the league in ERA).<\/p>\n
On Monday, the Pirates are favored at home against the San Diego Padres, who are just 4-5 through nine games and have one of their worst starters on the bump.<\/p>\n
Right German Marquezz (12.00 ERA) was rocked in his 2026 debut, allowing four runs, eight hits and a pair of homers in just three innings of work. He\u2019s coming off a rough 2025 season as well, where he posted a 6.70 ERA in 26 starts for the Colorado Rockies.<\/p>\n
Marquez will face Pirates top prospect Bubba Chandler, who tossed 4.1 innings of hitless baseball against the Cincinnati Reds, though he did walk six batters and allow one unearned run.<\/p>\n
If Chandler can get his control issues in check, the Pirates could be dangerous with him and Paul Skenes atop the rotation.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look at the odds, a player prop to bet and my prediction for Monday\u2019s NL matchup.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Padres vs. Pirates Odds, Run Line and Total<\/p>\n
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a><\/p>\n Run Line<\/p>\n Padres +1.5 (-186)Pirates -1.5 (+153)<\/p>\n Moneyline<\/p>\n Padres: +113Pirates: -136<\/p>\n Total<\/p>\n 8.5 (Over -108\/Under -112)Padres vs. Pirates Probable PitchersSan Diego: German Marquez (0-1, 12.00 ERA)Pittsburgh: Bubba Chandler (0-0, 0.00 ERA)Padres vs. Pirates How to WatchMonday, April 6Time: 6:40 p.m. ESTVenue: PNC ParkHow to Watch (TV): MLB.TVPadres record: 4-5Pirates record: 6-3Padres vs. Pirates Best MLB Prop BetPirates Best MLB Prop BetOneil Cruz to Hit a Home Run (+305)<\/p>\n Earlier today, I shared in SI Betting\u2019s best home run picks \u2013 Daily Dinger<\/a> \u2013 why Cruz is worth a look after a hot start to 2026:\u00a0<\/p>\n Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Oneil Cruz has gotten off to a rough start in the field, but he\u2019s making up for it at the dish.<\/p>\n Cruz is hitting .314 with four homers and 1.026 OPS early on in the 2026 season. Now, he takes on San Diego Padres righty German Marquez, who was touched up for eight hits, four runs and two homers in his 2026 debut.<\/p>\n Marquez is coming off a rough 2025 season where he allowed 23 home runs in 26 starts, posting a 6.70 ERA in the process.<\/p>\n Cruz has been a much better hitter against right-handed pitching in his career (.252 batting average vs. righties, .185 vs. lefties), and he\u2019s hit at least 20 homers in back-to-back seasons. I like him at this price to continue his strong start to the 2026 campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n Padres vs. Pirates Prediction and Pick<\/p>\n The Pirates have a major advantage on the mound in this matchup, even though Chandler couldn\u2019t make it through five innings in his first start of the season.<\/p>\n Both of these teams have solid bullpens, ranking 11th and 12th in the league in bullpen ERA. So, I\u2019m basing this pick more off of the offenses and the two starters, and there is a clear advantage in both categories for Pittsburgh through nine games.<\/p>\n The Pirates are seventh in MLB in OPS and ninth in runs scored while the Padres are just 29th in OPS and 25th in runs scored this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Marquez ranked in the third percentile in both expected ERA and expected batting average against in the 2025 season, and he did not get off to a strong start in his 2026 debut. Chandler, on the other hand, survived six walks because he did not allow a single hit.<\/p>\n I think Pittsburgh\u2019s in a great spot to win at home since the San Diego offense is off to such a slow start to the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pick: Pirates Moneyline (-136 at DraftKings)<\/a><\/p>\n Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.<\/p>\n If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/p>\n Claim the latest\u00a0DraftKings promo code<\/a>\u00a0offer today. Sign up and win your first $5 bet to get\u00a0$200 in bonus bets instantly.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Pirates are off to a fast start in the 2026 season, winning six of their first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2407],"tags":[5,4,43,137,18,4339,4338],"class_list":{"0":"post-666951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego-padres","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-padres","11":"tag-san-diego","12":"tag-san-diego-padres","13":"tag-sandiego","14":"tag-sandiegopadres"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116359421638176805","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}