Pittsburgh Pirates Wake Up Call: Biggest Five Game Stretch of the Year?

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

Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington intimated earlier this week to anyone who would listen that this week would be “pivotal” (his words) in determining how the club would proceed with the trade deadline looming.

While the validity of that statement is certainly debatable, Huntington would certainly say “so far, so good” after the club took two of three against the Washington Nationals to give them wins in three of their last four overall.

Now the fun begins.

The Milwaukee Brewers come into town for the ultra-rare five game series. If you follow Huntington’s logic, these five games carry more weight than any others going forward. Five games against the division leader will cause many to stand up and take attention. If the Pittsburgh Pirates can pull a rabbit out of their collective hats and take four out of five, Huntington’s words may just carry an air of legitimacy.

#Bucsin280

#RAISEIT for the series win. #Pirates blank the #Nationals 2-0. Nice team effort from the pitching staff today. Williams went 5 scoreless. The bullpen went 4 scoreless. Vazquez with the save. Marte provided the offense with a 2-run shot. He is indeed good at baseball. #BUCSin280

— Pirates Breakdown (@piratebreakdown) July 11, 2018

Baseball Talk on the Web

• Old Friend Alex Stumpf looks into how Starling Marte‘s stolen base totals are not really helping the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• Another old friend in Travis Sawhik opines that the trade deadline matters less than ever. Wish someone would have told me that before I wrote this wake up call!