I got in trouble back in 2014 by saying the Baltimore Orioles, who were really good, took 1st place away from the Yankees 'by default'. In hindsight, I don't believe that anymore, it was honestly their year, and they really should have made a World Series over Kansas City.
So when I say that the Pittsburgh Pirates are in third place by default, I don't think it'll be anywhere near as controversial.
The Cincinnati Reds are squarely in last thanks to their firesale, and the Cubs are in fourth after a major downslope since April, as well as a series loss to the Yankees. The Brewers and Cardinals are chasing each other for first, and inevitably the Cardinals have finally lapped Milwaukee anyway. There is a 10 game divide between the Brewers and Cubs, meaning there's that much of a difference between the good teams in this division and the bad teams.
And then, splitting the difference, 7 games behind the Brewers and 1.5 games ahead of the Cubs...there's the Pirates. Just chilling out, doing their thing. The Pirates can lose 6 games in a row, and because they're not competitive or in last, it won't really matter. Cubs are losing games too, they won't move.
Basically, the people you figured would be running this Pirates team are. Brian Reynolds, Ke'Bryan Hayes and David Bednar. You could have called it at the end of last season. Not sure if you could have called the Bucs keeping Oneil Cruz down for so long it's a wonder it's not a Sixto-esque cover for surgery, but people like Jack Suwinski, Tucupita Marcano, Cal Mitchell and Travis Swaggerty are helping, or at least trying to. What I like is that it's no longer up to solely Dan Vogelbach to hit the home runs, as Reynolds and Suwinski have lapped him, which is sort of promising. And while Jose Quintana is still doing a pretty decent job, J.T. Brubaker and Zach Thompson have gotten their ERAs under 5, in addition to Brubaker having 60 Ks. And Roansy Contreras is coming along as a starter, which is a good sign for the future.
This clearly is not a great team, but it's an okay enough team to park themselves right in the middle, where I imagine they'll stay for a while, even if they have another losing streak. I wish they had enough in this one to propel themselves to a future run or two, but...I'm not sure if what they have right now is enough.
Coming Tonight: The Padres were gonna start him at third, and then came Machado. So he left, and got to run his own team.
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