The Pittsburgh Pirates have been in the driver’s seat all week when it comes to hosting the National League Wild Card game, and will be once again this afternoon in Sunday afternoon’s contest, the final one of the regular season.
With all of today’s games being started at or close to the same time, no team has an early advantage of resting players if there is a race for a playoff spot.
The Pirates fall in this spot as they lead the Chicago Cubs by one game for the right to host the NL Wild Card game Wednesday. The Cubs need to win today’s contest against the Milwaukee Brewers and have the Pirates lose as that would result in them hosting the contest since they won the season series versus the Pirates. If the Pirates win they will host, but a loss would mean the Cubs could potentially host.
Given the nature of the situation, it was a rather relaxed clubhouse who knows what needs to be done.
“Everyone has the same mission which is to win today and worry about tomorrow then,” Keon Broxton said. “The experience is awesome and it’s great to be around these guys, some of whom have been around the game for a long time.”
“We need to focus on ourselves tomorrow and come out and play an aggressive game of baseball,” said Jared Hughes. “We need to attack the zone, play good defense and swing the bats well which we are very capable of and I think it’s going to work out really well for us.”
All told, Rob Scahill knows that this season while it has been a good one, is not done yet.
“How many times do you win 97, potentially 98 games and not win your division,” Scahill said. “We had a great season as a team and we put ourselves in an opportunity to win our division but the best team in baseball happened to be in our division. We did what needed to do to put ourselves in a position to be successful, and I’m very proud of our body of work to this point but we’re not finished yet.”
Happ on the mound: J.A. Happ will start for the Pirates and to say he is fresh would be an understatement. He was removed from his start this past Monday after throwing 56 pitches in six innings and allowing one hit. He was taken out because the Pirates were trying to score and were misfiring on opportunities to bring runners home.
The success he did have against the Cardinals is nothing new for him as he has lost one start since Aug. 5. Manager Clint Hurdle told the media that he was a believer after his Aug. 29 start against the Colorado Rockies, his third consecutive win.
“Everyone’s wired differently on what they see,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “There’s also a recency bias that be contended with. They remember the last start the best, and can negate what they saw in the (previous) three starts, or vice versa. He’s been a great value to us. The level of consistency has been way past interesting.”
General Manager Neal Huntington also is a believer in Happ stating that he was looking forward to seeing a few more starts from him which seems to secure his spot in a potential NLDS series pitching rotation.
Happ is 2-3 with a 6.25 ERA in seven career starts against the Reds.
Josh Smith is looking for his first ever win not just against the Pirates but in the Major Leagues. Smith is 0-2 with a 7.20 ERA in two appearances against the Pirates. Pirates batters are hitting .222 against him.
Bottom of the ninth: Aramis Ramirez and A.J. Burnett were honored prior to today’s game for their accomplishments during their respective Major League careers.
“The honor is going to be nice, and it is special that the three teams I played for have all honored me, but I don’t want this game to be my last game,” said Ramirez. “We have another game on Wednesday and look forward to play more after that.”
Since Aug. 4, Happ has produced the fourth-lowest ERA in the Major Leagues at 2.04. He is 6-0 in eight starts against teams not named the Cubs… Ramirez ranks fifth all-time with 381 home runs as a third base and his 2,112 career appearances rank 10th all-time at the position… The Piraes bullpen has a 2.65 ERA, the lowest mark in the majors and their 31 wins rank second behind the Cubs [37].
Photo credit: Jared Wickerham/Getty Images
