Alright, so...the NL playoff picture is pretty settled. The division leaders are pretty set, there's four main contenders for the wild card spot, the Marlins could have made a run but now they're 4 games back and need one of the others to stop moving, which will be difficult. Everybody else is out of it. And that includes the Pirates...despite the fact that they're starting to get going again finally.
The Pirates overcame several really unfortunate developments this season. The complete meltdown of the bullpen, including Dennis Santana, which is cumulatively responsible for 25 losses. The decline of Mitch Keller, which is responsible for 8 losses, and the subsequent decline of Paul Skenes, which is responsible for 11 losses. The infuriating lack of catching stability despite TWO FORMER TOP PROSPECTS sharing the workload this year. And the injuries to Ryan O'Hearn, Konnor Griffin and Oneil Cruz right when they were getting going. This team more than any other Pirates team was simply cursed, because there was more effort put into this team than most other Pirates teams, and even with that they still couldn't move the needle.
Of course, NOW, once the season's basically been called, the Pirates actually start coming together again. Oneil Cruz, Spencer Horwitz and Jared Triolo have all been hitting since coming back. Cruz has 17 homers and 52 RBIs despite missing two months. Bubba Chandler's also finally putting something together, getting his ERA down to 4.26 and getting to 117 strikeouts. Rafael Flores is another nice young outfield bat, he's already got 7 homers and 17 RBIs. And Jake Mangum has been the glue of this team, hitting .287 with 21 steals, 107 hits and some great outfield play. Mangum was similarly underrated in Tampa, and now he's arguably getting a bit more playing time. The core of this team is still Bryan Reynolds, Oneil Cruz, Brandon Lowe, Esmerlyn Valdez and Nick Gonzales, and that's still extremely good. All of those guys are having excellent seasons and if the pitching hadn't spoiled some things early, they'd be pushing this team into the conversation.
Also, and this is very important: the bullpen's really good now. Gregory Soto, Mason Montgomery, Evan Sisk and Yohan Ramirez all turned their seasons around and are responsible for a combined 6.2 WAR. Since then Lake Bachar, Camilo Doval, Kirby Yates and Luke Weaver have jumped into the mix, and they're all very good. Yates in particular has been pretty lights out, with 2 wins and a 2.19 ERA. It's a very good sign, especially if Skenes is still pretty cooked.
Last night, the Pirates went ballistic on the Giants, and can still win some games even if the playoffs are a long shot at this point. The hope is that most of these guys stick around so they can build a working version of this team that doesn't crap out where this one did, but that would require a much better Paul Skenes, and we need to see if this season is due to fatigue or if the lower velocity is just gonna be a thing now.
Coming Tonight: A rookie outfielder for the A's who's probably grateful he's not in triple-A right now, but...the A's kinda feel like a triple-A team at the moment, so it's a mixed blessing.
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