Is it Over for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Playoff Race?
Joe Raineri and Craig Mish evaluate the Pittsburgh Pirates' issues in key games and their playoff outlook. Player performance is a significant hurdle.
Video Transcript
But Joe, the other question that I would have for you today as we look at that playoff picture, the Pirates, Joe.
Is that, is it over?
Oof.
Like, is that it Are they just not gonna bounce out of this?
Like, is that it?
I- if you can't win Paul Skeen's games, then you have no business being in the postseason.
It's that simple.
If, if he can't go out there and no matter what he gives you, even if it's just giving up two runs, if you can't win the games that your ace is out there pitching, you got no business in the postseason.
I mean, they, you know, they made Har- Kyle Harrison who we talked about, we liked a lot, but he hadn't pitched in forever.
He was on the IL.
Months.
He had tightness.
Y- you know, it had been a rough stretch for him.
And what is it, he ends up striking out the f- last eight guys he faced in the game last night.
Like, you can't, you just can't have that.
And now again today, and, and, I think it was Ashcraft today, and I love I, you know, Ashcraft's been great for them, much like Jones has been great for them.
But they, i- it's either strikeout or home run they've become, and you know, that's a tough team to rally behind here.
It, what are we supposed to do, think that Milwaukee just does what they always do, and they did it to Pittsburgh?
And Pittsburgh actually, had dominated Milwaukee this season in their series, which is kinda hard to believe.
But yeah, it, Milwaukee has beaten everybody in the Central, has a winning record against anybody in the Central except Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh goes and lays a giant egg this, in this series.
But the good news is, to your point, Pittsburgh's got a lot of games coming up with everyone that they're chasing- Yes, they do but I gotta see more from them offensively.
Otherwise, how do you not win his games?
Yeah, and, and, and I mean, I, I guess really the moral of the story is we may have to just throw out games in Milwaukee at this point.
I, I agree.
'Cause the Brewers don't lose at home, Joe.
They don't lose.
Crazy.
Yep.
Are they gonna go 60 and 20 at home?
Like, this is crazy.
Like, they don't lose at home.
So maybe it's- I don't get it not as much about Pittsburgh as it is about Milwaukee being great.
Maybe, maybe that's just all it is.
And maybe Milwaukee will beat LA in the NLCS if they have home field.
Maybe.
Maybe.
They're that good there.
Well, how crazy is it, though?
Their bullpen, look at their bullpen since the trade d- it's fantastic.
Their bullpen in this series has been great.
But the problem is now they can't hit and they can't score enough runs, so- No hitting the thing that was their bugaboo they addressed at the, at the trade deadline, but now, nope, can't score any runs over here.
And Milwaukee with a lead heading into the seventh inning at home- It's over.
Over.
Over right?
It's over.
It's ridiculous
