Pirates Playoff Odds: Recent slide making things more difficult for Pittsburgh

This year, for the first time in what feels like forever, the Pittsburgh Pirates entered the All-Star break knowing they still had meaningful baseball to play on the other side of it.

Sitting at .500 at the season's unofficial halfway point, the Pirates were in the thick of the National League Wild Card race under MLB's expanded playoff format. They have posted an 8-9 record in 17 games since the break to remain just under .500 on the season, and they are technically still alive in the playoff race... for now, anyway.

The Pirates have dropped two series in the past two weeks to the Arizona Diamondbacks, one of their direct NL Wild Card competitors, and they have just one win in their last six games. According to FanGraphs, Pittsburgh has just an 11.4% chance of making the playoffs this season, and the Pirates are projected to finish the season just below .500.

Pirates Playoff Odds: So, you're saying there's a chance...

Technically, yes. The Pirates can absolutely still make the playoffs. But they haven't exactly carved out an easy path for themselves to get there.

Once as few as 1.5 games back of the final National League Wild Card spot, the Pirates now sit four games back. They are eight games back of the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the NL Central Division. In other words, they are long shots.

Still, for an organization has produced just three playoff teams in the past three decades (wow, that was really sad to type), 11.4% actually doesn't sound that terrible. General manager Ben Cherington seems to believe the Pirates have a chance; he went out and added to the roster at the trade deadline this season after years of doing nothing but sell.

The Pirates will go as far as their pitching takes them this season. They have an elite starting rotation that is tailor-made to win in October. But true contenders aren't just deep at one position; they're deep everywhere. For the Pirates to shed years of irrelevance and overcome their long playoff odds, their lineup and their bullpen need to start pulling some of the weight.

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