Pittsburgh Pirates Wild Card Watch – Last Legs

In our Pittsburgh Pirates Wild Card Watch, we give you a semi-daily primer as the Pirates try to chase down a 2016 playoff spot.

Despite what many may think, the Pittsburgh Pirates are still in the race for a Wild Card spot in the National League, even though their recent stretch may have you thinking otherwise. The Pirates are six games back of the second spot right now, and are slowly fading away alongside the Miami Marlins. It’s shaping up to be a three team race between the San Francisco Giants, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the New York Mets. My money is on the Cardinals and the Mets being the two out of the bunch to get in. The Mets have the easiest schedule left, and the Giants, although they continue to barely hang onto that first spot, have had a horrid second half of the season; I have a feeling they will lose a spot in the final week of the season.

Let’s take a peek at the NL Wild Card standings:

via ESPN.com

San Francisco Giants

The Giants swept the Diamondbacks in their weekend series after having an up and down past couple of weeks. Game one required extras as Madison Bumgarner gave up a surprising four earned runs in six innings of work. Games two and three were a bit easier, as the Giants won both by a combined score of 16-6. This was an important sweep for the Giants as neither the Cardinals nor the Mets are conceding any ground. Next up, the Giants take on the Padres for a three-game series at home as they hope to continue preying on weaker teams.

The Giants are 10-7 in extra innings this year, tied for the most wins in extras this season.

New York Mets

The Mets are the hottest team of any of the teams in the Wild Card race. While the Pirates are fading quickly, the Mets have caught fire. They had won six games in a row before losing in extras to the Braves on Saturday, but bounced back with a win on Sunday. The Mets have feasted on two bad teams the past two series in the Reds and the Braves, something the Pirates can’t seem to do. Yoenis Cespedes, who is playing for a potentially huge contract this off-season, now has 30 home runs on the year. While the Pirates only have one player on the disabled list, the Mets have nine players on the DL, including Neil Walker, who is done for the season, David Wright, Jon Niese, Matt Harvey, and Zack Wheeler, among others. Obviously these are significant injuries, but the Mets have found a way to battle through them. The Mets now have to travel to face the Nationals starting tonight.

• Rookie Seth Lugo has started five games for the Mets and has pitched to a 2.40 ERA, but Mark Simon of ESPN thinks that his success may be unsustainable.

St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals keep flip-flopping with the Mets for the second Wild Card spot, and currently are on the outside looking in with a few weeks to go in the regular season. After taking two out of three from the Pirates, the Cardinals split a four-game series against the Brewers to close out the weekend. The Cardinals were blown out 12-5 in the first game, but the next three were close, low-scoring games. Taking three out of four from any team in baseball is tough, but that would have been ideal for the Cardinals. Adam Wainwright had a terrific outing in the third game of the series, allowing just one run across eight innings. Wainwright has had a sub-par season, pitching to a 4.45 ERA this year, so that outing was a confidence booster for him. Next up, though, are the Cubs at home, so Pirates’ fans should be rooting for the team with the best record in baseball this upcoming week.

• The Cardinals activated All-Star shortstop Aledmys Diaz from the disabled list on Sunday, who has been out with a right thumb fracture.

Miami Marlins

The Marlins were holding onto a Wild Card spot for much of the regular season, but have collapsed in the second half of the season, much like the Pirates. The Marlins are five games back of the Mets, but have leap-frogged the Pirates in the playoff chase. After losing five in a row last week, the Marlins have won three of out their past four games to move to within a game of .500. They just took two out of three from the Dodgers, thanks in part to another fantastic home start from Jose Fernandez. Now the Marlins get to travel to Atlanta and then Philadelphia as they hope to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

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