From two decades without a winning record to two straight postseason berths: The Pittsburgh Pirates' ascent to relevancy is here to stay.
With a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves and a loss by the Milwaukee Brewers in Cincinnati, the Pirates clinched their first back-to-back postseason berths since Barry Bonds and Jim Leyland were wearing black and gold.
Pittsburgh's Tuesday-night clincher in Atlanta was its eighth victory in nine games and continued a red-hot run down the stretch. The Pirates are 16-3 since beginning September with a three-game losing streak. Their recent run has also given them an opportunity to take the top spot in the NL wild-card race—which seemed unthinkable at the beginning of the month.
On Sept. 1, Pittsburgh was two games behind Milwaukee and the San Francisco Giants, who each held a wild-card spot. Now the Giants are currently in Los Angeles trying to fend off Pittsburgh's attempt to take sole possession of the first wild-card berth and hosting rights away from the West Coast.
The Pirates have ascended on the back of a well-rounded team, aspects of which were on full display in Atlanta.
Gerrit Cole bounced back from giving up a run in the first two innings by allowing just a lone base hit in his final five. The right-handed ace finished with eight strikeouts in his seven frames of work before ceding to Jared Hughes and Tony Watson, who closed the game without much issue.
Pittsburgh scraped its way back from the 2-0 deficit thanks to some well-timed power hitting and mental errors from the Braves. A Christian Bethancourt throwing error scored the Pirates' first run in the fourth, Travis Snider took Alex Wood deep in the fifth and an RBI double from Starling Marte scored Andrew McCutchen in the sixth to put the Pirates ahead for good.
Whereas last year's celebration looked and felt like a 20-year weight being taken off their shoulders, the Pirates were much more subdued Tuesday. The scene looked like a standard win. The outfielders came together and embraced, the pitcher and catcher dapped each other up and all seemed to be going as planned.
It was only when the players came off the bench and onto the field that the importance of this victory began to sink in.
While the quieter celebration was almost certainly in deference to Atlanta—the Braves have already had enough indignities this fall; having their wild-card competitor celebrate on their field might have been a step too far—it could also be looked into a little deeper.
The Pirates are no longer the lovable postseason darling. Sure, there are good vibes remaining from last year's thrilling run. But the great thing about sports is that getting over one hurdle only leads to another. A playoff berth begets expectations of a series win begets expectations of a pennant.
Perhaps their Yankee-esque outlook was a sign of knowing what lies ahead.
"Our goals are what sits in front of us," Neil Walker recently told Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "We know who we are, we know what's going on. We're not looking past the day. We do a really good job of kind of staying in the moment, as cliche as it is. We're playing good at the right time."
Or, perhaps the Pirates were just respecting the Braves by not making a mockery of them on the field.
OK, yep, totally that:
Probably not the best champagne spray in history, Mark Melancon:
Melancon will be taking all lessons from McCutchen going forward, who has his goggles game on point like a seasoned playoff vet (those pants probably need dry-cleaning, though):
The Steelers, who now own the longest playoff drought among Pittsburgh professional sports teams, played the good sport and congratulated the Pirates:
Speaking of congratulations, let's give kudos to Tony Sanchez on his A-plus Stone Cold Steve Austin impersonation:
We kind of hope he was mid-Shmoney Dance here:
Agreed:
First, "life's a trip" needs to be made into a Pirates T-shirt immediately. Second, the organization might want to package that moment now as part of its World Series DVDs. The Pirates pitching staff, which was a scourge to the fanbase for much of the first half, has been brilliant down the stretch. Tuesday was the eighth straight game it's given up two or fewer runs and the 11th such instance this month.
A mean regression will come eventually. Until then the Pirates can just keep on riding this red-hot wave—possibly deep into October.
Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter
Credit to the Pirates' Twitter feed, Brian McElhinny and David Julian Roth for setting the scene.
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