The Pittsburgh Pirates are in the midst of the last possible push for the postseason as the last month of the season is officially underway. At five games back from a Wild Card spot, the pressure is on for the Pirates to rally, and there are a couple of things they can do to give themselves the best shot possible at the playoffs.
First and foremost the bats have got to stay hot. In a previous game against the San Francisco Giants, they collected the win after they scored 13 runs off of 19 hits. Offensively, these are exactly the kind of performances the Pirates need to string together to give themselves a good shot.
The second half of the season saw the Pirates red hot offense turn stagnant, as the team was littered with injuries and had a lack of production from their leaders. The performances that ensued saw the Pirates go into a bad slump that saw them slip to the bottom of the National League Central. They have surged lately though, and more consistent performances from their lineup will carry a lot of the weight as they try to claw back into contention.
The Pirates’ rotation also has to be dialed in to end the season. All year long the Pirates’ star studded starting pitchers have struggled with consistency. Paul Skenes has looked out of sorts all year, and has unfortunately blown numerous games for the Buccos. However, the rise of Braxton Ashcraft has been essential for the team’s success this year and he has emerged as a leader for the group.
Luckily the performances from the rotation have been better lately, but still shaky. Many are calling for Bill Murphy to be replaced after the collapse that his starters have experienced, but Ashcraft dismissed those notions surrounding his coach.
“What I do know is that it’s really easy to point fingers, and everybody is looking for somebody to point their finger at,” Braxton Ashcraft said. “And whether it’s a hitting coach, pitching coach, manager, bench coach, whatever it is, [the] coach is the first place that everybody goes to point their fingers and place blame. I don’t think it’s necessarily fair.”
Ashcraft added that the players on the team owe a lot to their coaches.
“We didn’t get to the big leagues singularly because we had great coaches,” Ashcraft said. ” … The pitching coaches, in my opinion, they work best to keep us in [mechanical] guide rails, to give us reminders when we need reminders, and to bridge the gap between what we do physically and how we attack with our arsenal. And I think that he does a really good job of that.”
If the starters can lock in for the remainder of the season it gives the team a far better shot, and takes a lot of weight off of the offense on slower nights.
More than anything, the Pirates need to beat the teams they’re supposed to beat. It’s a tough stretch to end the year, but the Pirates on paper are a far better team than how they’ve looked at times throughout the season.
The Pirates won their series against the Giants. They should also absolutely win their series against the Los Angeles Angels who sit below the American League West division. Back-to-back series in the Windy City against the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs will be tough, but the team has the benefit of staying in one location for that six-game stretch. Ideally, they split those series against the Chicago teams.
Following the series against the Cubs the team then comes back to Pittsburgh for three straight series against the Brewers, Royals and Cardinals. The Pirates have been mostly great against Milwaukee all season, and being able to win the series against the division leaders would be a great momentum swing to end the year. The Royals are also at the bottom of their division, so that should be a lock for the Buccos. The Cardinals have given the Pirates fits all year, and that may be the toughest opponent they have left to face. St. Louis however is on a downturn. The Pirates then travel to Detroit to end the regular season, a team that they just won against less than a month ago.
It’s going to be an uphill battle for the Buccos to make it to the postseason, but it’s far from over yet. A couple of strong performances in September could put this team over the top and bring Bucctober back to Pittsburgh.
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