Pirates suddenly have playoff pulse nobody saw coming after NL Wild Card standings shakeup

The Pittsburgh Pirates have officially made September interesting. That alone feels noteworthy after where this season appeared headed less than two weeks ago.

As recently as Aug. 28, the Pirates were six games under .500 and drifting toward another disappointing finish. Now, after Wednesday night’s 4-2 win over the Chicago White Sox, they are 73-73 and back at .500 for the first time since Aug. 3.

They have won 10 of their last 14 games and five consecutive series, something the franchise had not accomplished since 2015 — the last time Pittsburgh reached the postseason. But this version has a much steeper climb.

Entering Thursday, the Pirates sit five games behind the San Diego Padres for the third and final National League Wild Card spot. Their recent surge has at least cleaned up the traffic in front of them, leaving the Arizona Diamondbacks as the only team separating Pittsburgh from the San Diego Padres.

Unfortunately, Arizona is a bigger problem than it sounds. The Diamondbacks are only a half-game behind the Padres and remain 4.5 games ahead of Pittsburgh. The Pirates effectively need two teams to collapse while continuing to play near-perfect baseball themselves.

That is why the playoff models remain so unforgiving. ESPN has Pittsburgh’s chances below 1%, while Baseball Reference puts them at 0.7%. MLB.com lists their elimination number — combined Pirates losses and Padres wins — at 10.

So yes, there is a heartbeat. But it's a faint one.

Pirates finally made the NL Wild Card standings worth watching again in Pittsburgh

The frustrating part is that Pittsburgh has finally started playing the way a Wild Card contender needs to play. This is the first time since 2018 the Pirates have been .500 or better this late in a season, and they have given themselves a chance to make their remaining schedule meaningful.

After finishing with the White Sox, the Pirates head across town to Chicago's North Side for a weekend series against the Cubs before returning home for a nine-game homestand beginning with an NL Central rivalry matchup with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Then comes the opportunity. Pittsburgh’s final nine games are against the Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers, all teams currently below .500. If the Pirates are going to pull off something absurd, that's where the run has to happen.

The issue is that San Diego and Arizona have favorable stretches, too. The Padres still get the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies. Arizona also sees Colorado and the Miami Marlins. And those two teams ahead of Pittsburgh meet each other for the final three games of the season, guaranteeing somebody will be collecting wins.

That is the cruel reality of beginning a postseason push this late. Still, after spending most of August looking finished, Pittsburgh has at least earned the right to make fans check the standings every morning again. Considering where this team stood on Aug. 28, even that qualifies as progress.

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