A Buc Short

Chris Archer must feel a bit gypped. He was playing for a third-place team last month, and was dealt at the deadline...to a fourth place team. Welp.

Since the trade deadline, the Pirates have lost a ton of major gains, and have lost the momentum that made them Wild Card threats to begin with. Archer, in his four starts, has notched 20 strikeouts, but has had a high ERA, and only one win. He's honestly back to what he was doing for the Rays earlier this season, and when the Pirates ask for an ace and get poor numbers, it's not a great move.

At least the other acquisition, Keone Kela, has fit right into the Pirates' bullpen, leading them to have less reasons to use a guy named Dovydas Neverauskas as a setup man.

Other than that? It's a very okay bunch. There are standouts, like Jameson Taillon, Starling Marte, Corey Dickerson and Francisco Cervelli, but nobody's especially leading the team into October or anything. This also isn't exactly a home-run friendly group either, with Gregory Polanco having the most with 20. So, regardless of the momentum, the Cardinals, who HAVE home run hitters and standouts, are kicking the pants off of them. They've lost a ton of traction in the Wild Card standings, and are below the Nationals...who just sold a few of their bats.

I wish I could say things could get better for the Pirates, but even if they do, they have a TON of Wild Card favorites to combat here, and I can't with certainty say they're better than most of them. As fun as these guys are, I'm not sure if we'll be seeing them into October.

Coming Tonight: Hard-hitting second baseman for a lackluster AL West team.