Pittsburgh Pirates Wake-Up Call – Down the Stretch

In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pittsburgh Pirates enjoyed their last day off of the regular season yesterday. It was a productive day for the club, as they gained a half game in the NL Wild Card race via a San Francisco Giants loss.

Now just 4.5 games back, the Pirates are technically still in the hunt for a postseason berth. The path there is daunting.

Of the 13 games remaining in the 2016 season, 10 come against the Washington Nationals, Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals. Four of those are against Chicago and the three-gamer to close out the season comes against the Cardinals.

At 74-75, the Pirates are in real danger of finishing the year with a losing record. If that should happen, it would be fair to ask if that would be a crippling blow to a team that has just recently re-bonded itself with its fan base. We have previously explored the Pirates’ reduced attendance in 2016, and a losing record would leave a bad taste in many’s mouths – perhaps enough to severely affect attendance in 2017.

The Mighty S-Rod

Sean Rodriguez was named the National League Co-Player of the Week. It was well-deserved.

Some numbers on @SeanJRodriguez1 from last week. #Serpico #PlayeroftheWeek pic.twitter.com/Bqoi3qGzUp

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) September 19, 2016

We’ll have more on this in the coming days, but Rodriguez’s newfound offensive success is startling. When I talked to his father, State College Spikes manager Johnny Rodriguez, earlier this year, he credited a re-embracing of Sean’s leg-kick by Pittsburgh Pirates hitting coach Jeff Branson.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”Johnny Rodriguez” link=”http://c8f.efa.myftpupload.com/2016/07/02/pittsburgh-pirates-sean-rodriguez-father-johnny/” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]Branson said -‘I like it [the leg kick]; and since then they left it in.”[/perfectpullquote]

Regardless of how he’s doing it, Rodriguez’s resurgence raises many questions for the Pirates’ off-season plans.

Baseball Talk on the Web

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