8-26-24 – By Ethan Smith – @mvp_EtHaN
There is one thing that cannot be denied about this 2024 Pittsburgh Pirates team, and its that they have a knack for the dramatic late in games.
Lately, they’ve been on the wrong side of late game heroics and drama, as evidence to their 10-game losing streak that effectively removed them playoff positioning. On Sunday though, the Pirates found a way, much like they did Friday, to maintain a chance to win a ballgame against their NL Central rivals, the Cincinnati Reds.
Yasmani Grandal, in all likelihood, won’t be apart of this team next season, but his walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth versus Alexis Diaz means more to this club then you might otherwise think, and not only in the standings either.
After a four-game series that saw a ton of twists and turns throughout, let’s take a look at some takeaways from another series victory over Cincinnati.
These wins versus rivals mean more than others
Every season, no matter how much you want to shape it any other way, the “easiest” path to the postseason for any team is winning their division.
That is especially true in 2024, seeing as the NL Wild Card picture is still insane, as the 75 win Diamondbacks, 73 win Padres and 70 win Braves occupy said wild card spots at the time of writing.
To put those win totals into context, the Milwaukee Brewers currently lead the NL Central with 75 wins, while St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are all under 65. If Milwaukee were in any other division right now, they would be in much more trouble than they currently are for the NL Central division title.
So how does this pertain to the Pirates? Well, beating teams in your division usually helps in winning your division, and beating the NL West usually would as well, but remove the losing streak from your mind for a second and consider the Pirates are 20-16 versus the NL Central this season and the point I am making becomes more clear.
Each games matters just as much as the next across 162 games, but division game are always heightening due to the direct impact, positively or negatively, that a division game can have for not only two teams directly, but three others indirectly.
20-16 in the division is second to, you guessed it, the Brewers, so the Pirates have shown a willingness to have success against their four direct rivals, and they proved so again at PNC Park on Sunday.
The significance of this can relay into 2025 as well, seeing as I don’t see many of these teams changing all that much between now and next year, obviously offseason signings will be made, but don’t expect any of these teams to get Juan Soto or Pete Alonso.
If Pittsburgh can prove to themselves they can have success in the division, like they have this season, and find a way to bridge the gap against the rest of the National League, well, success will follow, so part of that step has been taken care of this season, and wins over your division rivals might not carry over into the following season, but they sure do matter.
Bryan De La Cruz will be streaky, that’s just who he is
Bryan De La Cruz was one of the marquee trade deadline acquisitions the Pirates made in an effort to improve the roster for a potential playoff run, but it hasn’t worked out, clearly, from a full sample on what we as fans and well, the team, has seen from BDLC so far.
Since arriving in Pittsburgh, BDLC is slashing .221/.247/.260/.507 with just three extra base hits and nine runs batted in. Compare those numbers to his season in Miami, where he had a .706 OPS with 18 home runs, and you shouldn’t be happy about what you’ve seen.
These kinds of things happen all the time when acquiring someone at the deadline, sometimes you get someone who finds fire and helps lead the charge to the playoffs, or in the Pirates case, you get a player who can’t find a groove.
What I find so interesting about BDLC is his monthly splits throughout the season. In May, June and August, his batting average was .230 or lower, while in April and July, it was always north of .262, so he’s a streaky hitter, its just in the nature of who he is as a ballplayer.
The biggest discrepancy can be found from his OPS pre vs post-All Star, as before the All-Star break, his OPS was .700, while after the All-Star break, it sits at .601.
As of now, I don’t think we’ve gotten out of BDLC what we would have liked, but in this Reds series, he had a mini breakout of shorts, collecting four hits and five RBIs across the four games versus the Reds, so you’d hope that can spring board him to a strong ending in 2024 and give him momentum with Pittsburgh heading into 2025.
Some players are getting their last shots, because the Pirates have to give it to them
This series, and many before it, have featured players you probably wouldn’t consider as apart of a contending team.
For example, we’ve seen Ji-Hwan Bae struggled at the MLB level and dominate in AAA, and with pending 40-man roster decisions this fall and winter, Bae could see his home change this offseason.
The same can be said for guys like Joshua Palacios, Billy McKinney, Yasmani Grandal, Alika Williams, and maybe even Jared Triolo and Connor Joe, seeing as the Pirates acquired two players, Billy Cook and Nick Yorke, this trade deadline that will have to be added to said 40-man roster this offseason at some point, and that doesn’t include the returns of Dauri Moreta, Endy Rodriguez and Johan Oviedo, as well as guys currently on the IL like Andrew McCutchen, Nick Gonzales, Ryan Borucki and Jared Jones, who is slated to be back starting on Tuesday.
And, oh yeah, this is before the Pirates make external additions via free agency or trades this winter, and Henry Davis is also coming back up, as could Jack Suwinski soon, so the Pirates have to make decisions on these fringe players because, quite frankly, there just isn’t enough space on the roster for them.
So yes, you’ll continue to see Bae, Williams, Triolo, McKinney and others thrown out in the starting lineup because decisions have to be made, with the play of some mentioned, you likely won’t have to watch much of them for any longer than this final month and change.
Its clear that pitching will continue to be the strength going into 2025
Minus Jake Woodford, every pitcher that started for the Pirates this weekend will likely find themselves as apart of the roster in 2025.
Paul Skenes will be back, obviously, and you can make competitive cases about Luis Ortiz and Bailey Falter, but don’t just assume Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft and Thomas Harrington break camp like Jared Jones did this season.
For now, that gives the Pirates a rotation of Skenes, Mitch Keller, Jones, Falter and Ortiz, a rotation we’ve have seen dominate throughout the season, and for all intents and purposes, dominate in this series as well for the most part.
With most of the questions surrounding the Pirates being related to the offensive side of things, and with what’s coming through the system being pitcher heavy, the pitching, trades or not, will continue to be a strength and for a team like Pittsburgh, who doesn’t spend big in free agency for starters, that is a massive check mark on the list to have already before we even turn the calendar to next year, barring injuries of course.
Steel City Pirates 
Only point I’d quibble with (all well done, though) is De La Cruz. Sure, he’s streaky, but this hasn’t been merely a cold streak. He looks flat awful, makes Cruz seem like he has the eyes of Ted Williams. His mobility and defensive awareness concern me too, though I’m thankful the arm isn’t falsely heralded as has been the case with some outfielders.
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