Just over 72 hours ago, I published a post about how hard it was going to be for the Pirates to catch the Cardinals, even if they won two out of three or three out of every four games in every series from here on out until the end of the year. At that point in time, the Pirates were five games back with just over a month’s worth of games left in the 2015 season.
Since then, the Pirates have been swept by the Brewers. They are 6 1/2 games out of first place in the NL Central. What that means is this: if they don’t sweep the Cardinals this weekend, they have functionally zero chance of catching them. That’s it: there are no moral victories, there are no, “if they take two out of three and …,” there is none of that bullshit. If the Pirates don’t sweep the Cardinals this weekend, they’re not going to win the division. The Pirates don’t win a lot in St. Louis. They’ve played there six times this year and won once. This will not be an easy task, nor is it something that it seems they’re very like to accomplish. Under most circumstances, two wins in three games against the Cardinals at Busch would be an outstanding result. It will not be an outstanding result this weekend.
Anyway, JA Happ looks to keep his surprising roll as a Pirate going against Carlos Martinez, who is excellent and who always beats the Pirates in St. Louis. First pitch tonight is at 8:10.
Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images
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