Pittsburgh Pirates Wild Card Watch – Cards Pad Lead

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

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Pirates Wild card Watch, a new feature here at Pirates Breakdown. In each installment, we will set the stage for the day’s action as the hunt for the National League Wild Card takes shape. We’ll take a quick look at the state of each of the club’s wild card rivals and pass along some relevant links to notable news about them.

For now, we are going to focus on the hunt for the second wild card. Should the next week or so put the Pirates in strong striking distance of the first WC spot, we’ll open it up. For now, here is our first installment.

Since our last installment, the Pirates have lost two straight to the Cubs. How has the past two days affected the chase?

First, the all-important look at the Wild Card Standings.

St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals are practicing some timely winning. Their two consecutive wins since our last report, coupled with the Pirates’ futility at Wrigley, has padded their lead back to 2.5 games. Both wins were one-run affairs against the Brewers. Adam Wainright and Carlos Martinez looked particularly strong in their starts. Wainright went for seven innings, allowing one earned run and striking out seven. Martinez went six, with a lone earned run of his own while striking out 13 Brewers.

Though Wainright has been a bit up and down this year, if he and Martinez can pitch as well as they did the past two days, the Cardinals’ rotation issues can be a bit masked.

Offensively, the Cards have a sneakily dangerous squad. Stephen Piscotty has been solid all year. Matt Carpenter is putting up the highest OPS of his career, and Randal Grichuk has found himself again. However, the biggest boost for the Cardinals may be the play of Jedd Gyorko. Gyorko has found his power stroke in the second half of the year, and in a very surprising fashion.

Gyorko has remained consistent in many areas, but his power stroke has blossomed in a big way. This, despite a .228 BABIP. If Gyorko can continue to serve as a huge power threat while hitting chiefly in front of Piscotty, the Cards may be able to ride their offense into a playoff spot.

Cardinals Links Of Note

• Mike Leake has shingles.
• Not a surprise, but Jon Heyman reports that the Cards will very likely part ways with Matt Holliday after this season.

Next, we’ll take a look at those pesky fish.

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