There is no team in baseball with a better record than the Pittsburgh Pirates. Now, you may not think that the Pirates are the most talented team in baseball. You may not think that they've played quite well enough to have baseball's best record. You probably wouldn't be wrong about that. Here's the thing: the only metric that matters when the season ends is wins and losses. The Pirates have the best record in baseball today. If they win again tonight, it'll still be true tomorrow. And so on for the 82 games after this one tonight.
The Pirates get another favorable pitching matchup tonight. Donovan Hand starts for the Brewers. He's a 27-year old rookie that's only made one start in his ten appearances this season. He's been pretty good as a reliever for the Brewers, but 27-year old rookies tend to be 27-year old rookies for a reason. Francisco Liriano starts for the Pirates tonight, and it's not a secret that he's been every bit as good as the Pirates could've possibly hoped when they signed him over the winter.
The Pirates' bats are hot. The Pirates are starting arguably their best starter. The Brewers are not. This is how seven-game winning streaks should turn into eight-game winning streaks. Having the best record in baseball after 80 games would be better than being the best team in baseball after 79.
The first pitch tonight is at 7:15. The game will be televised on FOX. It is nominally a national broadcast, but the reality is that all that being the FOX game tonight means is that you won't be able to (legally) watch unless you live in Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, or St. Louis. Such is life for the Pittsburgh Pirates, best record in baseball or not.
