I posted these on another thread, but decided they deserved their own thread. We can update them periodically to see which direction the teams are trending:
I'll qualify my comments with "it's still early" but.........
Looking at team stats, Pittsburgh's offense doesn't look like it will hold up. I would take the Reds and Cards offense over the Pirates any day of the week. I do realize the Pirates swept us. But I think it was just one of those things.
Pittsburgh is 25th in team batting average. 24th in HR's. 21st in runs scored. 21st in OBP. 26th in slugging percentage. I see that trend holding up most of the season.
Reds are 5th in team batting average. 9th in HR's. 1st in runs scored. 1st in OBP. 11th in slugging percentage.
Cardinals are 22nd in team batting average. 19th in HR's. 5th in runs scored. 25th in OBP (surprising). 21st in slugging percentage. Hmmmm. I can't figure out how they're 5th in runs scored with those hitting stats.......yikes.
Team pitching stats:
Team e.r.a.
4. Pirates 3.30
7. Cardinals 3.44
9. Reds 3.58
Team starting pitching
2. Cardinals 2.54
5. Cubs 3.13
6. Reds 3.21
18. Pirates 4.34
Team bullpen
3. Pirates 2.03
20. Reds 4.39
30. Cardinals 5.69 (wow)
I think the Reds bullpen will improve.
Looking at the stats for both hitting and pitching, I feel the Reds have the most ability to improve. I'd expect the Cardinals hitting to get better though.