up and down<\/a> as well.\u00a0 26-17.\u00a0 14-31.\u00a0 13-2.\u00a0 Those three stretches have led to a 53-50 record thus far.<\/p>\nThis team hasn’t just been beating opponents lately.\u00a0 They’ve been smashing the crap out of them.\u00a0 The offense has been white hot, scoring runs early and in bunches.\u00a0 This has allowed the starting pitching to be aggressive and attack the zone.\u00a0 Because of that, they’ve been going deeper into games and eating innings.\u00a0 The bullpen has gotten ample rest, another positive.<\/p>\n
Everything has been working lately.\u00a0 The key word being lately.\u00a0 What can we expect from this team in the final 59 games?\u00a0 The 11-game win streak was snapped yesterday.\u00a0 Tonight, we’ll get to see how this team reacts to their first loss in just over two weeks when they take on the New York Mets at home.<\/p>\n
Honestly, I truly don’t know what this team is.\u00a0 Obviously they aren’t 13-2 good but they aren’t 14-31 bad either.\u00a0 Nothing would really surprise me during the final two months of the season.<\/p>\n
A few things are certain for the 2018 Pirates.\u00a0 Outfield production is the key to the overall offensive production for this team.\u00a0 The starting pitching is average to slightly above average.\u00a0 This bullpen has the potential to be great.\u00a0 They have multiple young arms with thunderous stuff.\u00a0 That doesn’t mean they aren’t subject to getting absolutely blasted at times.\u00a0 Because that happens too.<\/p>\n
Adding a starter, bullpen arm, and middle infielder would certainly help this team and better their odds to get into the dance.\u00a0 But do we really think, even after witnessing this tremendous stretch of baseball, that this team can actually pull this off?\u00a0 A playoff berth?\u00a0 This year?\u00a0 After playing so horribly for so long earlier in the season?\u00a0 Man.\u00a0 I don’t know.<\/p>\n
I’ll say this though.\u00a0 I am captivated.\u00a0 Part of me thinks that the Pirates can play .600 ball the rest of the way.\u00a0 Part of me thinks the Pirates have the best outfield in the National League.\u00a0 That the starting rotation has turned a corner and the bullpen is elite.\u00a0 That Josh Bell is breaking out of his cocoon and becoming the hard-hitting gap to gap .300 hitter that we always projected him to be.<\/p>\n
But then again, I just watched this team win 11 straight games.\u00a0 Everything went right.\u00a0 This is baseball.\u00a0 Not everything is supposed to go right.\u00a0 This team will come back down to earth.\u00a0 They might have already with yesterday’s loss.\u00a0 What will this team be when not riding the highs of an incredible hot streak?\u00a0 Will they remain in the race or wilt away like they did for almost two months of the season?<\/p>\n
It is July 26.\u00a0 We are almost two thirds of the way through the 2018 season.<\/p>\n
I have no idea what the Pittsburgh Pirates are.\u00a0 And you know what?<\/p>\n
I kind of like it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Pittsburgh Pirates are 53-50 on the season.\u00a0 They sit 3.5 games back of the second Wild Card spot and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":822680,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[703638948,610258686,1],"tags":[140059],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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