The Cardinals recent three game sweep of the Pirates has them in an uneasy position going into the final stretch of the 2014 regular season. The Pirates trail St. Louis by 4 1/2 games for first in the National League Central and trail Milwaukee/Atlanta by a half game for the second Wild Card spot with 21 games remaining.
Pittsburgh has been in this position twice already this season before coming all the way back. They trailed the division leader by nine games at the end of June, but trimmed the lead to 2 1/2 by the All-Star break. They again fell to seven games back in mid-August before running off a streak of seven wins in ten games to pull within two.
The Pirates have shown they can bounce back, but is there enough time for one more?
Their schedule is favorable the rest of the way as they will play 14 games against sub-.500 teams. The other seven games are against the Brewers and Braves, the two teams standing between them and playoff position.
They also have experienced a similar situation last season as they were trying to catch the Cardinals during the month of September while trying to hold on to their Wild Card lead.
“I think going through last year and understanding the grind through August and getting into September to trying to reach our goals has helped us through these times and not press and not do more than we are capable of,” said Neil Walker. “We’re just focused on being a team and going out there and playing good baseball and doing what we can do to help the team on that particular day. You’re not seeing any deer in the headlights moments with us. The guys are just going out there and doing their jobs.”
The Cardinals schedule is even more forgiving, however, as they play the Brewers three more times with the rest of their schedule going against sub-.500 teams in the Reds, Rockies, Cubs and Diamondbacks.
There could be an outside chance the Pirates could overtake the first Wild Card spot that is currently held by the Giants –four games ahead of the Pirates –, who play the Dodgers six more times.
For the Pirates, they only remain focused on the game that’s in front of them and not what may be ahead.
“We play for the now,” said Gaby Sanchez. “We play for the day. We’re not looking for anything else. Now we look to the next game and after that, the next. We’re taking it a game at a time. We’re not trying to get ahead of ourselves because if you do that, you start putting pressure on yourself and we don’t want to do that. We just look at the now.”
Playoff baseball in the Burgh is still a good possibility, but the Pirates will have to fight their way to get there.
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(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
