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Pittsburgh Pirates: Playing Spoiler & Other Takeaways From Sweep Of The Cubs
The Pittsburgh Pirates kicked off the final home stand of their 2019 season with a series victory over the Chicago Cubs
It goes without saying that the 2019 season has not gone according to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Despite this, the team has started the final week of their season on a high note.
To start their final home stand of the 2019 campaign, the Pirates swept a three-game series against their National League Central rivals the Chicago Cubs. Best of all, this series victory eliminated the Cubs from postseason contention. Suck it, Maddon!
Following the series sweep the Pirates are now 68-91 this season. While it would not be any sort of accomplishment, it would be nice to see the Pirates pick up at least a pair of wins this weekend against the Reds to reach 70 for the season.
Next up for the Pirates is the final series of the 2019 season. This series will be a three-game set against another NL Central rival – the Cincinnati Reds. But before we look ahead to the Reds, let’s take a look back at three takeaways from their series victory over the Cubs.
Playing spoiler can be fun
The Pirates entered the final week of the season with nothing to play for. However, this was not the case with the Cubs.
Entering this week’s three-game series the Cubs postseason elimination number was three. Following their loss and a Milwaukee Brewers victory on Monday night that number dropped to one. Tuesday night, the Pirates defeated the Cubs again and that vile team from the Windy City was officially eliminated from postseason contention.
Once again…. suck it, Maddon!
Playing spoiler against any team is fun when you are eliminated from postseason contention. Doing it against arguably your biggest rival makes it even better.
Since 2015 the Pirates and Cubs have had plenty of battles against each other. These battles included the Cubs winning the 2015 National League Wild Card Game in Pittsburgh, bringing an abrupt end to the Pirates’ magical 98 win season.
Oh, and let’s not forget the Jung Ho Kang incident in September of 2015 that may have cost the Pirates the NL Central. Worst of all, there was Joe Maddon‘s disgusting comments about Kang getting hurt on a dirty slide and it potentially just being plantar fasciitis. There were also Maddon’s comments earlier this season where he essentially threatened to hurt Pirate players while sipping wine in the PNC Park visiting coach’s office like a donkey’s backside.
The Cubs and Maddon are very, very easy to hate. Ending their season is a hell of a consolation prize for a team that is going to finish with 90+ losses.
Extracting some revenge against the Cubs
The last time the Pirates battled the Cubs the Pirates got annihilated. Two weekends ago the Pirates traveled to Wrigley Field and got their doors blown off by the Cubs. In that series in the Windy City the Pirates allowed a franchise single series worse 47 runs as they got swept by the Cubs.
This week, the Pirates got their revenge. The Bucs eliminated the Cubs from postseason contention while sweeping them. In the series, the Pirates outscored the Cubs 22-9. They very well may have cost Joe Maddon his job, too.
Okay, I lied, last one… suck it, Maddon!
Series sweeps are always fun. Having two blowouts while picking up a series sweep is also always fun. Do that against the Cubs in a series in which you end their season and extract revenge? The best.
A Strong Series For The Starting Pitchers
A driving force behind the Pirate sweep was their starting pitchers.
Tuesday night Mitch Keller took the ball and turned in one of his finest performances at the MLB level. He allowed just 1 run on seven hits, two walks, no home runs allowed, and seven strikeouts in 5 innings of work. Throughout the night he had his swing and miss stuff working and was inducing soft contact.
On Wednesday night, it was Dario Agrazal‘s turn.
In his 14th and final start of his rookie season Agrazal had allowed 1 run entering the 7th inning. After allowing a home run to lead off the 7th, he was lifted for Francisco Liriano. Like Keller, Agrazal finished his rookie campaign on a strong note by allowing 2 runs on six hits, no walks and five strikeouts in 6+ innings of work.
Finally, there was Joe Musgrove. Big Joe allowed 3 runs, only 2 of which were earned, in 6 innings of work in his final start of the season. This capped off a season that saw Musgrove pitch a career high 170 1/3 innings in a career high 31 starts. He will finish the season with a 3.83 FIP and a career high 21.9% strikeout rate. Also, for the first time in his MLB career he will eclipse a WAR of 3.
Next. 2019 Top 30 Prospects Rewind: Pitcher Michael Burrows. dark
One thing that has always been a constant in baseball, and likely always will, is that pitching wins. In their series sweep of the Cubs the Pirate starting rotation was excellent allowing just 5 earned runs in 17 innings of work. This was a major driving force behind the Bucs sweeping the Cubs this week at PNC Park.