According to Baseball Propsectus, the Pirates' odds of winning the NL Central are down to 10% after last night's loss. Those odds are not zero, but they reflect the fact that the division is no longer under only the Pirates' control. All the Pirates can do now is play better baseball and hope that the Cardinals trip themselves up over the season's final ten games.
I think that that pretty much either starts today, or we can all start medicating ourselves in preparation for the insanity of a one-game playoff against the Reds. The good news is that Gerrit Cole is starting and he's been a freaking buzzsaw lately. The bad news is that even Sandy Koufax in his prime would have a losing record with the Pirate offense that we've seen over the last few days behind him. Ian Kennedy starts for the Padres. He really hasn't been all that good this year. Hit today, or start fixing your rotation to get Liriano ready for the wild card game. That's all there is to it.
First pitch is at 12:35
