Pittsburgh Pirates Wake-Up Call – Happy Wild Card Eve

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Pirates Wake-Up Call, a daily feature here at RumBunter.com. Every morning at 9 AM, one of us will give you our random thoughts on the goings-on around the Pirates’ organization, and we’ll throw out a few links to some good Pirates-related items your way from around the web as well.

24 hours.

Ok ok. Technically, it’s 35 hours between now and the epic National League Wild Card Tilt between the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. It almost doesn’t seem real. Perhaps it’s because its hard to properly gauge things outside of the “Pittsburgh baseball bubble,” but I cannot remember a game that has reached such a critical mass in anticipation. Much like myself, fans went a bit stir crazy today waiting for the game. Perhaps our friend Sean Dolinar said it best:

Fans can only think of chants, watch thank you videos, and debate lineups for so long. If the 25-man Wild Card roster doesn’t come out soon, providing some bit of real news, fans may even try to get into PNC Park early to wait it out. I am most interested in seeing Clint Hurdle‘s lineup creation. I have been beating the drum for Gregory Polanco to have a seat vs Jake Arrieta due to a 3-for-16 slate against him this season and also to avoid the baserunning and fielding mistakes that seem to plague El Coffee. To me, this is really the only intriguing part of the potential wild card lineup. But it does have a domino effect. With Josh Harrison swinging a hot bat, it’s almost too tempting to have Jhay play in RF, allowing Aramis Ramirez and Pedro Alvarez to be in the game at the same time. An underrated benefit of this move would be the tremendous double switch capabilities late in the game. If Hurdle needs to yank Gerrit Cole or strike at a chance for runs, Polanco can come in, and Jhay can slide in anywhere on the diamond really. Should be an interesting lineup for sure.

We’ll save the nuts and bolts for our analysis coming later today and tomorrow. But for now – soak it in, Pirates fans. You’ve earned it.

Pirates talk on the web

I’m a bit ‘meh’ on the whole chant thing myself, but if you’re into that sort of thing, 93.7 The Fan tells the tale of a fan who has come up with a chant for every inning

Many other outlets nationally are starting to take note on how the wacky baseball playoff system may screw the Pirates.

Just like last year, there would be a good old fashioned Pep Rally to get us excited for the game. Because you really need to be fired up, right? HERE are all the pertinent details.

Next: Top Five Moments of the 2015 Regular Season