7-20-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter
48-48 at the All Star Break, with 66 games remaining, the Pirates had reason to feel good about what they had accomplished on the way there.
It had been built on pitching, specifically starting pitching and at different times this season the bullpen and the offense have been the anchors that prevented the club from making the most of out that special unit.
At times one of those other units would show up and the Pirates would tend to find a way to win, but it always felt like they were lucky to survive more than taking it to anyone.
And then it started to take shape in mid-June. The bullpen cleaned itself up and got healthy, the hitting started to get more consistent with infusions like Nick Gonzales, and Joshua Palacios, as well as patience paying off with guys like Oneil Cruz and Rowdy Tellez.
Now, they’ve largely been firing on all cylinders for the best part of a month and it’s culminated in this 6 game winning streak that spanned the All Star Break and has taken the first two games of this series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The MLB account on social media is all over the Pirates right now. See, nationally, they’re the team with Paul Skenes and when they see our stadium full, they aren’t counting how many of them are rooting for Bryce Harper.
Don’t get me wrong, I know the perpetual thin ice that the Pirates are skating on. They’re a 4 game losing streak from losing the buzz they’re building up, I’m also kinda not of the belief it’s coming this time.
There’s a belief in that room. An air of belief that they have enough in this room to be scary.
While we fans continue to pull for the club to augment this roster with at least another bat, the guys in that room, all they know is they have enough to come to the ballpark every night believing they can win.
Swagger.
That strut you see from a confident baseball team. They look like they can’t wait to get to the bat rack, even when they’re struggling against an opponent, you get the impression as long as the starting pitcher does their job, they’ll figure him out.
This isn’t to say they’re perfect, or they don’t need to add, nothing silly like that. Instead, it’s to say this team believes they’re in this, and they’re playing a whole bunch of teams who think they have stake to the same claim.
They’re playing their best baseball of the year and they’re missing some big pieces on the IL still, they’re likely to add help, and if you can’t feel something happening here, chances are you’re still in your mom’s basement telling yourself “Damnit, I was right”.
The vibe with the fans and the team are real, and so is the fact that all the talent they’ve brought in along this hellscape of a journey is starting to make it’s way to, and mature at, the major league level.
I told you years ago, there was no shortcut for this. We had to see the suffering for a chance to see the reward, well, consider this time and place the very beginning of a long stretch of baseball that matters in the Steel City.
This team is young, and clearly not as put together as a bunch of teams, including the Phillies who they just secured a series victory from, but they can pitch with anyone and tonight, they scored all their runs off two Phillies All Stars who give up homeruns about as often as I consider jogging on the treadmill fun.
Beating the Phillies doesn’t make them real. Beating the White Sox certainly didn’t either, but if you stop complaining about what they aren’t for a few minutes and really look at your team, I think you’ll see a team that is on the rise, and can go into any series thinking they have every chance to win it.
6 in a row, 8 of 9 with young stars on the rise. A unit of players fully entrenched in being Pittsburgh Pirates for the next half decade minimum. They’re having fun, they believe in each other, and this fan, well, I’m there too.
I can’t wait to see what the next 64 games bring and there isn’t a damn team in the league that wants to play your Pittsburgh Pirates right now, bet that.
Steel City Pirates 