It's hard to believe that there are only six games left in the 2013 season, but here we are. In a lot of ways, these last six games are formality; the Pirates and Reds are both so close to the wild card spots that they can stumble backwards into them at this point, and the […]

I understand letting Jeff Locke start today. That sounds crazy in hindsight, but I really do. Locke has looked marginally better since returning from his demotion, and he turned in a gem against the Cubs last weekend. Brandon Cumpton, Kris Johnson, and Stolmy Pimentel have all been used pretty sparingly since joining the Pirates after […]

Think about how big a two-game deficit feels in the division right now. It feels almost insurmountable with seven games left. If the Pirates win today, they can have the exact same lead on the Reds for the right to host the wild card game, except with only six games left instead of seven. This […]

Let's all exhale just a little bit.  After last night's debacle, the Pirates got a little bit of everything that they needed tonight. AJ Burnett came out tonight with a slider that should've been required by law to have a turn signal affixed to it. He spotted the Reds a 2-0 lead, then completely shut […]

After a night like last night, what else can you do besides take the field and try to win a baseball game? AJ Burnett and Homer Bailey take the mound tonight at 7:05. A win would make things seem marginally better, I think.

I think … disheartening. I think that's the word. I want to say devastating, but I honestly feel like once we have a tad more perspective that it's just a little too strong. The reality is that the Pirates were longshots to win the NL Central before this game began tonight, and they were longshots […]

The stakes this weekend are pretty clear: the Pirates are playing the Reds with, at the very least, the right to host the NL Wild Card Game and maybe a shot at the NL Central, if the cards fall the right way (see what I did there?).  As for now, the Pirates are one back […]

The Pirates have had a number of cathartic break-out-of-the-slump wins in this roller coaster of a season, but I think that maybe this one takes the cake as the most cathartic of them all. After an ugly three-game losing streak where the Pirates' offense just kind of ceased to exist for half of a week, […]

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 […]

The topline story is that Mark Melancon came into the game with a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth and served up four hits and two runs in the seven batters that he faced, and a 2-1 win turned into a 3-2 loss. This is particularly difficult to swallow, because the previous eight […]

Please allow me to rant for a second. On last night's broadcast, the Pirates' broadcasters (who I feel pretty sure were Greg Brown and Steve Blass, though I'm not 100% positive) talked about the Pirates' record against the Padres at PNC Park as if they were talking about the Curse of Tutankhamun and that the […]

There's no reason to dress this up other than to be blunt about it: if the Pirates don't start hitting soon, they're going to find themselves in the wild card game. They crushed the ball when they were in Texas, but the offense has been mostly absent in the first six games of this homestand […]

Obviously, last night's game did not go well. Tonight, the Pirates will try to get back on track against Eric Stults and the Padres. If we boil the remaining season down to its simplest form, the Pirates now have four three-game series left in 2013 and if they win two of three in each of […]

There are two ways to look at this game. One way would be to simply say this: Andrew Cashner was freaking awesome. The other way would be to pick at it. To say that the Pirates haven't really hit well lately, despite all the wins, and that AJ Burnett has been incredible for the Pirates […]

As it turns out, it's hard to find original angles for game previews when every game is the biggest game of the year. The Pirates are playing really well right now. They need to keep playing really well. AJ Burnett takes the mound for the Pirates. His last start was OK, though he ran out […]

If you haven't yet, I strongly recommend you go to the Trib's site today and check out Travis Sawchik's feature on the Pirates' defensive shifts. In addition to the things that you probably already know about the shifts (you probably remember James Santelli's piece about it from earlier this summer; if you don't please go […]

For whatever reason, Sunday is usually the day that I sit back and evaluate where the Pirates are compared to where they've been. It's probably something about the afternoon game that gives an easy week-to-week point of reference Last Sunday, the Pirates were in rough shape. They were 1 1/2 games out of first after […]

The first three games of this four-game set with the Cubs have gone quite well for the Pirates, except that all of the games have been awfully close. Today, they try to take three of four from the Cubs to run their recent hot streak to six of seven in total. Of course, a win […]

I know that he's really only emerged over his last two starts, but suddenly I'm not sure that there's any Pirate pitcher that I feel more comfortable with on the mound than Gerrit Cole. Cole got into some trouble in the first inning tonight and got partially bailed out by the defense behind him, then […]

Last night's loss was frustrating, but really, it's not a huge deal so long as it remains an isolated incident. I was hoping to see the Pirates take six of eight from the Cubs and Padres and they can certainly still do that even with last night's loss.  Gerrit Cole returns to the mound after […]