One day at a time

There is a special moment of baseball fan hell that only exists at this point in September and it goes a little something like this:

OK, good, the Pirates put up three in the first two and will probably do what needs to be done tonight. Let’s hit the scoreboard. Nationals are getting crushed, nice. OK, Cubs are winning, Cardinals are only down 1-0, Giants haven’t started yet [an hour passes]. Damn, Cardinals are winning, Giants are out to an early lead, Cubs won, geez, OK, get back out there and try to win again tomorrrow, I guess. 

And so the Pirates put together a second easy win in Colorado, stayed two games up on the Cubs, four games back of the Cardinals, and one win or a Giants loss away from clinching a playoff spot.

The win is the Pirates’ fourth in a row since dropping their fourth in a row on Friday against the Dodgers. I wrote earlier about how that game sort of felt like a low-point, given Jung Ho Kang’s injury and the way the Cubs mopped the PNC Park field with the Pirates three days in a row, but I should’ve known better. Teams don’t get to 91-60 by accident and this Pirate team has done pretty much nothing but keep on winning since they started in late May. Nine down to the Cardinals in May? Or 6 1/2 down in September? Swept by the Brewers? The Pirates fix every rough patch with a passel of wins, and even if its not enough to overtake the Cardinals (and every night like last night makes catching the Cardinals more and more unlikely) it’s impressive to watch.

In the end, I think it probably makes for a more satisfying situation to let the Pirates clinch a playoff berth through their own work and not back in a hotel room watching TV. Charlie Morton, the Forever Pirate, starts for the Bucs tonight and since the Giants and Padres will end after the Pirates play, a Pirate win clinches a third straight playoff berth. We can wait until this officially happens to talk more about it, but this is still a significant milestone despite the currently futile-seeming chase of the Cardinals and the looming shadow of Jake Arrieta off in the distance.

At this point, I think that our only option as Pirate fans is to say this: Win today. Celebrate what each win for what it’s worth. Hope that today’s win helps make tomorrow’s game more meaningful than today’s, but don’t worry about tomorrow until it’s here. The Nationals lost last night and so have been eliminated from the list of teams that Pirate fans should care about. Tonight’s list of meaningful games is:

• Brewers (Zach Davies) at Cubs (Kyle Hendricks), 8:05
• Reds (Brandon Finnegan) at Cardinals (Lance Lynn), 8:15
• Pirates (Charlie Morton) at Rockies (Christian Bergman), 8:40
• Giants (Jake Peavy) at Padres (Andrew Cashner), 10:10*

*Only meaningful if the Pirates lose

One other important note: Christian Bergman is a relief pitcher. Who is starting for the Rockies tonight. Against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Who are 91-60. Charlie Morton is, I believe, the second longest tenured Pittsburgh Pirate (just behind Andrew McCutchen and just ahead of Neil Walker). It is September 23rd. This happened on September 23rd, 2013. This happened on September 23rd, 2014. Seems like a good night to get an official clinch out of the way, before moving on to other things.

Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images