Where Things Stand
Happy Tuesday, everyone. After a much-needed day off, baseball will return tonight. The Pirates are currently 70-80 for the season and are on pace to win 76. That pace is probably a bit deceiving. First of all, I had to round up to get there. They’re technically on pace to win 75.654 games. The other reason it may be a bit deceiving is that the final four series will all be against teams that are not only above .500 but also vying for a National League Wild Card spot. Wins won’t be easy to come by. The Pirates do have an opportunity to play the spoiler for some of these teams, so it won’t be meaningless baseball. It just won’t be meaningful in the way that we hoped it would be. Maybe next season.
Instead of finding some random sample of music to throw in here for some filler, I’ll instead stick this in. This is a question that has been on every Pirates fan’s mind over the past month or so. What is wrong with Henry Davis? Well, Jim and DiNardo tackled that very subject in yesterday morning’s Starbucs. Here is just that segment so that you don’t have to wade through the rest of the show to find it.
Up Next
The Pirates will travel to the Windy City for their final series of the season against the Chicago Cubs. Have I mentioned before how much I hate the Cubs? Chicago will come into the series with a 78-72 record. They’re 6.5 games behind the Brewers which is likely too much to overcome in such a short time, but they are in the hunt for the Wild Card. The Cubs lead the season series 9-1. That isn’t a typo. The Pirates have only won one game against the Cubs all season long. That lone win was in the last series at PNC Park when they managed a 2-1 win when Mitch Keller pitched an eight-inning gem. Let’s have a look at the projected pitching matchups for the series.
Tuesday, September 19
TBD vs Javier Assad RHP (3-3 3.10 ERA)
Wednesday, September 20
TBD vs Justin Steele LHP (16-4 2.73 ERA)
Thursday, September 21
TBD vs Kyle Hendricks RHP (6-7 3.77 ERA)
I guess as long as TBD has a good week, this should go well. If there is some good news in here, it’s that the one win this season came against Kyle Hendricks. Steele has had a tremendous season so that one definitely won’t be easy. I think the only thing that I can say confidently after looking at these matchups is that Tyler from the Podcast Department could absolutely take Hendricks deep. What do you guys think? Can the Pirates find a couple of wins in this series? Will TBD have a big week? Let me know in the comments.
Where To Find NS9
Not a lot of news to make a Quick Hits with. It gets this way at the end of the season. Instead, I’ll just share with you all of the ways that you can support North Shore Nine.
Alright. That wraps us up for today. We’ll be back here again tomorrow looking at game one of the Cubs series. As always, #LetsGoBucs!