Michael King's home and night game dominance makes Padres the smart pick over struggling Pirates

It was a bit of a mixed bag yesterday for results.

I had four plays in one game, which is something of a rarity for me.

However, I went 3-1 in that game, and I lost the other game.

For me, it was a slight profit for the day, but that's because I tend to bet less on player props than I do on full game totals or sides.

We go back to the grind today with the matchup between the Pirates and the Padres .

The Pittsburgh Pirates are essentially repeating what they did last year in terms of record.

The problem is that the team is not progressing.

Last year, the team lost 91 games.

It does seem like they will be closer to .500 this year, but coming into this game, they are five games under.

They are fourth in their division and 18 games back of first place.

If they can get hot before the end of the year, maybe they can make a push for the Wild Card, but they are 7.5 games back of that and have four teams in front of them for the final spot.

Even though their hitting has improved, the pitching staff has struggled.

No one has been a bigger surprise struggle this season than today's starter, Paul Skenes.

For the year, Skenes is 9-11 with a 3.95 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP.