Has it even hit you yet? I mean really, really hit you. You can look at the standings all you want and see 69-34. No matter how many times you refresh the page, it will say the Pirates are leading the National League Central and are up there as the best team in baseball.But have you actually grasped that yet? I didn’t, well, at least until yesterday.
On my way home from the newspaper, I was listening to my good pal Dan Zangrilli and Kevin Orrie do the Pirates postgame show on 93.7 The Fan. There was a guy that called in and offered his thoughts on the World Series. Being from Boston and now living in Pittsburgh, he said he’d love it to be the Pirates and the Red Sox. At first, I didn’t give it much thought. It was, after all, a fan looking at it with bias. But then, I thought about it. It would be a true David vs. Goliath battle.
You’d have the Pirates (David) representing the small-market teams everywhere. The team that lost for 20 straight years against the Red Sox (Goliath), who represent all that is wrong with baseball. Well, not them exactly, but you know what I mean. It’s always been fun to picture a team like the Pirates in the World Series, but the real fun part is that this year, it’s a realistic possibility.
Do I think they will? No, not at this point. But I’m not ignorant enough to say there isn’t a realistic possibility.
If last night’s caller didn’t do it for me, Curt Schilling did. Baseball tonight is still one of the handful of programs I will watch from time to time on the four-letter network. Schilling said that he was picking the Pirates to represent the National League in the World Series. Again, I’m not one that cares about national attention (to be honest, when they get it, people still say they don’t get enough), but someone like Schilling saying that the Pirates were his pick was an eye-opener.
It’s not just the fact that the Pirates are contenders, but it’s what they are doing for the city. For my whole life, I would constantly see Steelers or Penguins memorabilia and clothing everywhere. Now, no matter where I go from Pittsburgh, to Clarion, to Lancaster to Portland; I see Pirates stuff. As Manager Clint Hurdle said last year, they want to “re-bond the City of Pittsburgh with baseball.”
Well, Clint, keep it up. It’s happening. The Pirates are the talk of not just the town, but the baseball world. Fans that are hesitant to buy in I understood….in June. Now, we’re in the dog-days of summer and the season. The Pirates are 25 games over .500. If you have any doubt, just keep repeating that.
As a lock to win 82 games and break the streak — relevant or not, that’s up to you — and an all-but-sure lock to make the playoffs, the Pirates are a contender.
When someone mentions the World Series and the Pirates now, they no longer laugh, but instead, offer up their opponent.
