Are the pirates really the real deal this time?

[IlovethisGame925]

Ok so here we are August 5, 2013 and the MLB season surprisingly is half way over. The Pittsburgh Pirates have so far good let everyone know that they will not collapse down the stretch and miss the postseason again! But ok ok, so far so good. The pirates currently have the best record in the national league at 67-44. The pirates have just came off an impressive 5 games series against the St. Louis Cardinals, almost winning all 5 of them. Coming back in ball games, solid pitching, solid bullpen, solid hitting, playing great defense-even though the pirates have committed some errors here and their, Pittsburgh has still been able to overcome them and still win the ball game. The pirates are clicking at everything now...the big question is will it last and the pirates will keep playing sensational baseball from here on out or will the pirates fade in the last 2 months of the MLB season? August has not been friendly to the pirates for some reason, I don't know why. What is the pirates all time record in August & September? I want to know your guys opinion on what we will see the rest of the way with these battling buccos they call them. Because when they trail in a ballgame mostly in every game this season they have comeback. Will that last? Will the pirates history of losing seasons kind of comeback to haunt them down the road? Ok I have so many questions for the bucs but will we see a similar ending season record from last year or will the pirates make the postseason and advance to the World Series? Right now the pirates are definitely a guaranteed lock for the playoffs. Would you guys say that or some of you disagree? Again give me your thoughts on how the rest of the season will unfold for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

 

[Darkstone42]

There are two things which kind of irked me about your post, so in the interest of politeness and completeness, I'll list them first:

1. It's nitpicky, but the season is more than half over by a fairly substantial amount, whether you define "half" as 81 games or the All-Star break.
2. Why, as a Yankee fan, is your first post on the Pirates' board? I don't mean to sound accusatory, but it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

Now I'll answer your questions in my opinion. I do expect regression, but nothing drastic or tragic. I do expect them to make the playoffs, but not because I think they're such a talented team that they should be a lock, but because they have a significant lead and I don't see enough teams being more talented than the Pirates by any significant gap who can push them out of the playoffs. Once in the playoffs, though, anything can happen. This is a young team, so maybe they'll be extra excited. They don't have a ton of playoff experience, so maybe they won't deal with the pressure well. They have great pitching, but a lot of our guys are overachieving, and we have a great defense despite the errors, but our bats are inconsistent. They could do well on pure adrenaline, or they could bow out early. It's really up in the air to me no matter how they perform down the stretch.

And welcome to SportsHoopla.

 

[dare2be]

I define the playoffs as playing in more than one postseason game, so as far as making the playoffs is concerned, the pirates have less than a 50% chance. With the aforementioned regression, I don't see the Pirates taking the division, so their playoff chances will hinge on one wildcard game. Pitting our best against (most likely) the Reds best in a one-game showdown makes us the underdog, IMO. So all-in-all, less than a 50% of making it past the one game showdown.

 

[steelparrot]

The Cards do have 4 games left vs the Dodgers and 4 vs the Braves, that gives us a little hope for the division.

 

[stillmatic32]

This is an extremely odd post. His inability to use paragraphs accompanied with his first few words left me with no desire to finish reading it.

No matter what you said, welcome aboard, and let's go Bucs!

 

[sychmd]

This is an extremely odd post. His inability to use paragraphs accompanied with his first few words left me with no desire to finish reading it.

No matter what you said, welcome aboard, and let's go Bucs!

exactly what is initially saw in his post. thanks for confirming.

the pirates are headed to the playoffs. anything past the 162 game season is by definition "post-season".
one game or a series, it is playoffs after the last regularly scheduled game against cincy.

the bucs are as good a bet as any team, but our lack of experience and not having a couple offensive studs does go against us unless all our role players really do the little things at the right times.

i would bet on LAD then stL to come out of the NL, but pitt should be a favorite next year with this experience and seasoning of this years postseason run.

the last 6 games against cincy could be quite interesting. hopefully we arent on the line with them so we can set our playoff rotation, skip the play in game and get homefield.

 

[HammerDown]

Your first post here? Mucho bizzaro.

That aside? Welcome.

I believe that the Pirates are for real. I think they're built to win this season and I can see them winning the NLCS in six games.

 

[IlovethisGame925]

Well lets talk about some of the pirates weaknesses and why they might kind if collapse or fade.

 

[TDs3nOut]

I've been saying for a couple of months that this Pirates squad is just better than the ones that faded down the stretch the past two years. That said, I still expect that the race in NLC is likely to be very close. Both the Cards and the Reds are also still very capable of winning that division.

 

[pixburgher66]

Well lets talk about some of the pirates weaknesses and why they might kind if collapse or fade.

The only weaknesses I could see would be some pitching regression...but even then, I think the bats will pick up a bit. McCutchen is only now heating up. Walker seems to be going in the same direction. When they get Grilli back, the bullpen will be shored up and deep. I think they may get Taillon some work in the pen in September too, just to get a few innings in the bigs. The weaknesses have been hitting with RISP, and I'm pretty convinced those will get better (just like I think the Cards hitting with RISP will regress).


/STATS!

 

[steelparrot]

We can collapse and still make the playoffs, who is going to catch us? the Dbacks? nats?

 

[HammerDown]

We can collapse and still make the playoffs, who is going to catch us? the Dbacks? nats?

Win 40% of your games and you're in. With September call-ups you can play some garbage time and rest the starters and 'pen. When you win that's the kind of bonus you get.

 

[BigBlueNation111]

I think so!

 

[SFNL]

The first Cards series after the break was HUGE! I don't think too many Bucco fans thought they would win that series let alone take 4 of 5. I thought that would be the beginning of the downfall.

Now.... Here we are. 2 games up and playing Miami while the Cards are dealing with the red hot Dodgers. It appears that worst case scenario with this team is taking a wild card spot, which amazingly enough after 20 years of sub .500 baseball would be disappointing (especially if they lose the WC game)

At this point I think they are here to stay, I just hope they can hang on to win the division. They will have their chance.

 

[IlovethisGame925]

Remember how bad the pirates road record was last year? Doesn't that concern you?

 

[evolver115]

Remember how bad the pirates road record was last year? Doesn't that concern you?

It would be concerning.... if it were still last year!

As it stands today, there are only three teams in the NL that have a better road record(ATL, LAD, STL). Two of them lead their respective divisions, and the third is in first for the WC slot.

 

[dare2be]

Calling DS, calling DS, it appears we may have some cleanup needed in aisle 2.

 

[HammerDown]

Remember how bad the pirates road record was last year? Doesn't that concern you?

No, but for some reason it seems to concern a Lakers, Yankees and Jets fan.

 

[mtm166]

Remember how bad the pirates road record was last year? Doesn't that concern you?

You seem like you're 15 or under, based on the original post reading something like a rambling high school love letter. Seems a bit odd to be so worried about the Bucs' 'problems' when I'm pretty sure the Yanks have enough problems for you to be worried about sitting there in fourth place in the AL East with the A-Rod circus rolling into town.

 

[Darkstone42]

Calling DS, calling DS, it appears we may have some cleanup needed in aisle 2.

Working on it. I haven't yet figured out my mod powers. It's like Superman learning how to use his heat vision...