The one problem people had with the NL Wild Card last year, the one-game playoff, is that it totally took power away from the one team that was in power in the Wild Card race in the first place.
The Pirates were fighting with the Cardinals for first for the entire season, and it was pretty cutthroat. For the latter half of the season, they had the handle on that WC spot, the first one, and the Cubs had even more of a handle on the #2 spot. For the entire last month of the season, the two Wild Card spots were locked up.
So, arc-wise, it made no sense that the Cubs easily took down the Pirates to advance. They were ahead the whole time. But, really, this was the year of the Cubs, and them going ahead was a little easier to stomach.
This outcome, and the fact that the Cubs spent the offseason rebuilding, and also the fact that the Cardinals are the Cardinals, does not bode will for the Pirates in 2016. They've lost Neil Walker, AJ Burnett and Pedro Alvarez, the guys that were holding the team together the past few years, and they're rebuilding by picking up spare parts. Which...is not the best sign.
I mean, they still have the outstanding outfield combo of Andrew McCutchen, Gregory Polanco and Starling Marte, and they still have people like Francisco Liriano and Josh Harrison, so it's not entirely lost, but unless something amazing happens, there's not the greatest chance of the Pirates making it back to first this year.
I'm still hoping for another amazing season from Cutch though, as I always root for that guy.
Coming Tomorrow- The most important hitter in the game right now.
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