I try not to think about last year’s Wild Card Game much these days; obviously there are plenty of what ifs around that game, especially given the way the playoffs played out, but all we can really do now is hope that the future holds something in store for the Pirates that will make wondering about the end of 2014 trivial.
Despite all that, it’s hard for this sentence to not have some meaning: Gerrit Cole will start tonight against the San Francisco Giants. Beyond all the obvious stuff, I’m actually interested in this game for another reason. The Giants are certainly the best team the Pirates have played since their recent turnaround started; before losing their two most recent games to the Braves, they’d won 13 of 15 and put themselves back into the NL West race with the Dodgers. The Mets and Padres are both decent club, but the Giants are of a different caliber. Much of the early-season handwringing that’s gone on has been about the Pirates’ place among the best teams in the National League. The Giants are one of those teams. I’m interested to see how this recently-improved Pirate club fares against them.
The good news is that the Pirates get to throw Cole, Burnett, and Liriano at the Giants, and that they’ll miss Madison Bumgarner. This is a big series, both because of last year’s Wild Card loss, and because it’ll help us know if this Pirate team can be better than that. It’s worth staying up for, at least.
First pitch tonight is at 10:15.
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