Where Things Stand
Happy Friday, everyone. The Pirates managed to avoid being swept by the Phillies last night and will head back home to play their final series of the season against the Marlins. It’s kind of a bittersweet time. It has been a long season that was quite frustrating for a good chunk of its duration. There were a lot of injuries that plagued the team and some rookies didn’t perform as well as we had hoped they would once they got their chance. The first month of the season was amazing, and the final two were at least fun to watch. From the beginning of May through about the third week in July we all wouldn’t mind forgetting. It’s still hard to see it end. I’ll miss watching the Pirates play and then writing a mediocre newsletter about it. Thank you to all of you who stuck with us through the season. It’s been a lot of fun. I’m already looking forward to doing it again next season.
Last night’s game saw Luis Ortiz put together a fairly solid outing. He went five innings while only allowing one run on four hits while walking two batters and striking out four. The bullpen was pretty good in relief of him as well. The offense performed pretty well, too. They only scored three runs but managed eleven hits. Triolo, Suwinski, Palacios, and Rivas all had multi-hit games. Triolo had two RBI doubles. He’s really making a case for an Opening Day 2024 roster spot. I’ll let Neil and DiNardo fill you in on all of the juicy details of last night’s game.
Up Next
The final series of the season will be a home one for the Bucs and they’ll face off against the Miami Marlins. The Marlins are locked into a battle with the Cubs for the final Wild Card spot. The Cubs will be playing the Brewers in their final series. Honestly, I could live with the Pirates getting swept in the last series if it means that the Cubs don’t get in. If the math allows for the Bucs to get a win or two while still keeping the Cubs out, I wouldn’t mind seeing the final win number climb a bit. My rooting interests in this final one are around the Cubs nor the Reds making the playoffs above the Pirates final win totals, though. Maybe that makes me a bad fan. I don’t know. Anyway, let’s have a look at who TBD will be facing in this one.
Friday, September 29
TBD vs TBD
Saturday, September 30
TBD vs TBD
Sunday, October 1
TBD vs TBD
I know it was ridiculous of me to even type that out, but I’ve done it all season and I didn’t want the final newsletter of the regular season to be the only one where I didn’t. Who knows what matchups we’ll be seeing. The Marlins are going to be playing it by ear seeing if they’re in or not so they can try to line up their best pitching for the first playoff series. The Pirates will be just trying to scrape by. Well, what are your predictions? Will the Pirates win the series? Can the Cubs get sent home? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Adios Regular Season
This newsletter feels like a goodbye, and that’s just silly. I’ve actually started working on the first post-season newsletter already. This isn’t an ending in any way. It’s just the end of the 2023 regular season newsletters. I won’t be back in your inbox for a couple of weeks, but we’re still going to keep on going. As long as there is Pittsburgh Pirates baseball to watch, we’ll be right here crying/laughing/cussing about it. I’ve been thinking about how I wanted to close out the regular season for a while now. I thought that a cookie recipe would be fitting, but that’s more of a thing for when they’re playing really bad which hasn’t been the case for a while. So instead, we’ll just do it with a song. Goodbye to the 2023 Pittsburgh Pirates season. Thank you for the memories. I, for one, truly can’t wait for the next one.
Alright. That wraps us up for the regular season. We’ll be back in a couple of weeks or so and start doing a post-mortem on the season. Thank you to all of you who supported the newsletter throughout the season. It has meant a lot to me. As always, #LetsGoBucs!
What a jam. Also excited to see TBD on the mound again.
Thanks for all of your wisdom! Hopefully we’ll get some cookie recipes (or other cooking ones) during the off season