Pirates Move Closer to Wild Card Spot
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Pirates have played some of the best baseball of the season recently, which has resulted in them moving up the National League Wild Card Standings.
The Pirates have won six of their past seven games and seven of their past 10 heading into the All-Star break, splitting a home series with the New York Mets, taking two games out of three against NL Central rival in the Milwaukee Brewers and then sweeping the MLB-worst Chicago White Sox, with the latter two series on the road.
That last sweep for Pittsburgh was the first since the opening series on the road against the Miami Marlins. It is the first back-to-back series wins since they took two on the road against the Rockies, June 14-16, and two at home against the Cincinnati Reds, June 17-19. It also brought the team up to .500 for the first time since they were 14-14 in late April.
NL Wild Card Standings (Team: Record + Games Ahead/Back +Win %)
No. 4 Atlanta Braves: 53-42/+4 games ahead/.558
No. 5 St. Louis Cardinals: 50-46/+0.5 games ahead/.521
No. 6 New York Mets: 49-47/level/.516
No. 7 Arizona Diamondbacks: 49-48/1 game back/.505
No. 8 San Diego Padres: 50-49/1 game back/.505
No. 9 Pittsburgh Pirates: 48-48/1.5 games back/.500
No. 10 San Francisco Giants: 47-50/3 games back/.485
No. 11 Cincinnati Reds: 47-50/3 games back/.485
No. 12 Chicago Cubs: 47-51/3.5 games back//454
Pirates Schedule Ahead
The Pirates head into the All-Star break just 1.5 games back, thanks to their stellar play in the past week or so.
Unfortunately for them, they'll have a diffcult schedule ahead that will test whether or not they belong in the race for the playoffs.
They face the MLB-best/rival Philadelphia Phillies and NL Central rival St. Louis Cardinals at home for the first two series. The Pirates then face the Arizona Diamondbacks and Houston Astros on the road and then the Diamondbacks and Padres at home. They'll head back out west to face the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Padres before returning home to face AL West leading Seattle Mariners, then traveling to the reigning World Series Champions in the Texas Rangers.
Two series at home against the Washington Nationals and the Marlins at home in September will serve as the only teams that aren't in postseason contension the rest of the season.
While the schedule ahead is daunting, the Pirates have a great pitching staff that have played an important role in their recent winning ways.
This includes starters in rookies in All-Star Paul Skenes and Jared Jones, Mitch Keller and Bailey Falter, plus bullpen arms in David Bednar, Colin Holderman, Carmen Mlodzinski, Kyle Nicolas and Dennis Santana that all work together to make one of the best pitching staffs in the MLB.
If the Pirates can get some more offense going in the coming series, they have a chance to make a run at their first postseason since 2015.
DOMINIC CAMPBELL