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Members of the Pittsburgh Pirates grounds grew were firmly seated aboard the struggle bus before Andrew McCutchen dropped his mitt and helped out.

With roaring winds and torrential rain interrupting Tuesday’s game against the San Diego Padres, stadium workers tried to unroll a tarp as quickly as possible. It didn’t go well.

Things hit rock bottom when one crew member actually got swallowed up in it, which is when McCutchen and teammate Sean Rodriguez decided to hop in.

To keep the ship from sinking, looks like it’s all hands on deck for the Pirates:

[MLB, Twitter]

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Andrew McCutchen has been one of baseball’s most durable players since the Pittsburgh Pirates called him up in 2009. However, he is currently dealing with an elbow injury after being hit by a pitch. His status for Sunday’s game remains unclear.

Continue for updates.

McCutchen Exits Game vs. Braves 

Saturday, June 27

The Pirates announced Jung Ho Kang would replace McCutchen after Atlanta Braves starter Julio Teheran hit the 2013 NL MVP with a pitch. Pittsburgh later announced X-rays on the elbow were negative and that McCutchen would be re-evaluated on Sunday.

Adam Berry of MLB.com noted the pitch was a 91 mph fastball. 

“I hate getting hit, but worse than that I guess pitchers don’t like getting their ERAs run up, either,” McCutchen said, via Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review provided more comments from McCutchen:

McCutchen says he is unsure about his status for tomorrow’s game, according to Sawchik.

There’s no denying the impact McCutchen makes when he’s on the field. He’s a 28-year-old monster who has posted a .300/.400/.500 slash line in each of the last three seasons. His 22 wins above replacement from 2012-14 rank second in all of baseball, behind Mike Trout (28.8), per FanGraphs. 

Entering the game, he sported a .295/.382/.490 line with nine home runs and 44 RBI.

The Pirates aren’t an offensive juggernaut, finding success with pitching and defense, so McCutchen’s ability with the bat is crucial to how manager Clint Hurdle puts the lineup together. As long as his absence isn’t prolonged, the team should be OK. 

If McCutchen winds up having to miss significant time, expectations for the Pirates in 2015 will change drastically. 

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Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen is a big fan of the U.S. women’s national soccer team—big enough to have his own customized jersey.

On Friday, the All-Star posted a picture of himself wearing a personalized Team USA jersey in anticipation for the team’s opening World Cup match on June 8.

McCutchen also tagged Meghan Klingenberg, a defender for the women’s national team and a native of Pittsburgh:

[Twitter, h/t USA Today]

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In a battle of the long ball vs. small ball, the Pittsburgh Pirates picked up a 10-8 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Friday night in Turner Field. 

With the victory, the Pirates won their fourth game in a row. They have also won 12 of their last 14. 

The hot streak has helped Pittsburgh to gain some ground on the St. Louis Cardinals, who still lead the NL Central by six games. 

The pitching for Pittsburgh struggled and sloppy defense resulted in three errors. However, the potent Pirate offense masked the deficiencies for Pittsburgh.

Neil Walker and Starling Marte both blasted homers, leading to five runs. Francisco Cervelli was the star of the evening for Pittsburgh, collecting four hits and driving in two runs of his own. 

For Atlanta, the offense was just as potent. The Braves played their typical brand of small ball to put up eight runs.

The offense just wasn’t enough to overcome a rough outing from the Atlanta bullpen, which gave up six earned runs over the final four innings.

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for Atlanta, who currently sits in third place in the NL East. 

The second game of the three-game series is scheduled for tomorrow 7:10 p.m. ET. The Pirates try to capture the series win as the Braves look to bounce back at home. 

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1. A Manager Is Just Another Chew Toy for Pit Bull Loria

Everyone knows managers are hired to be fired. But in Miami, they’re not just fired; they’re sliced, diced, pureed, pulsed, chopped, whipped, crushed, frappe’d and blended too.

So here comes new Marlins manager Dan Jennings, one of the game’s most respected talent evaluators, in Miami’s craziest move yet.

This actually is a demotion for Jennings, who comes downstairs from the executive office, where he was vice president and general manager. Not since Jack McKeon—sound familiar, Marlins fans?—with the San Diego Padres from 1988 to 1990 has someone served as both manager and general manager in the majors. (Yes, that is a bit of sarcasm. Demotion, yes, but Jennings will retain his VP title, and the Marlins say he will have the same input in the construction of the team.)

Jennings is a lifetime talent evaluator who is credited with signing and developing, among others, Josh Hamilton, James Shields, Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli during his seven-plus seasons as Tampa Bay’s director of scouting before leaving for the Marlins.

And as he himself said during Monday morning’s press conference, “It is out of the box. I will not deny that.”

You think?   

Here is just one of the 3,000 reasons this organization is laughable and you can’t believe anything it says: Club president David Samson and president of baseball operations Michael Hill spoke at length Monday about how the Marlins needed “a new voice.”

So the “new voice” is a guy from the front office who has had a hand in building/maintaining this team all along?

This is not a new voice.

This is an old tale.

Owner Jeffrey Loria is George Steinbrenner on training wheels, blowing through managers like Kleenex.

Since 2010, the Marlins have employed seven: Fredi Gonzalez, Edwin Rodriguez, Brandon Hyde (0-1 as interim in 2011), Jack McKeon, Ozzie Guillen, Mike Redmond and now Jennings.

Loria is paying three managers this summer alone: Guillen, who is in the final year of the four-year, $10 million deal he signed to manage the Marlins before the 2012 season, Redmond and Jennings.

Try as he might with moon shot after moon shot, slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who hit a ball completely out of Dodger Stadium and pounded the three longest homers in the majors last week, cannot outdistance this circus. Since this managerial Wheel of Misfortune started in earnest in 2010, Stanton has played for an average of 1.17 managers per season.

Jennings is immensely popular throughout the industry, an old-time baseball man, a good guy, good sense of humor, beloved by many.

But you already know how this story is going to end: with stains on Jennings and, if he’s not careful, knives from Loria and Samson in his back. And the fact that nobody from the Marlins even bothered to thank Redmond at Monday’s press conference for his effort and for some of the good things he’s done…it’s just reprehensible.

“I will tell you even my mom, whom I love, asked me, ‘Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind?'” Jennings joked.

Sadly, Ma Jennings, maybe you don’t want to know the answer.

2. All-Underachieving Team

It’s mid-May. These guys have to turn it around soon…don’t they?

First base: Albert Pujols, Angels. Not only does he have a relatively pedestrian six homers and 14 RBIs, but he also entered the week hitting .231 with a .283 on-base percentage and a .403 slugging percentage, which ranked 20th among qualifying MLB first basemen. For the bargain price of $24 million this year.

Second base: Chase Utley, Phillies. Though Philadelphia is starting to play a little better, Utley is slogging along at .138/.214/.241. Glory days—they’ll pass you by in the wink of a young girl’s eye.

Shortstop: Jimmy Rollins, Dodgers. Utley’s former double-play partner did go 4-for-5 against the Rockies on Friday and by this week had boosted his slash line all the way up to .196/.277/.348. Though the Dodgers own the second-best record in the National League, fans nevertheless are beginning to wonder when phenom Corey Seager, 21, will be ready (he’s hitting .281/.324/.344 at Triple-A Oklahoma City). Oh, and one other thing about Rollins: “It’s mesmerizing how many plays he takes off at shortstop,” one scout says.

Third base: Josh Harrison, Pirates. Harrison was an All-Star last summer who finished ninth in NL MVP voting. He was awarded with a four-year, $27.3 million deal last month that could be worth $50 million if all of the options are exercised. The emergence of Harrison caused the Pirates to bump Pedro Alvarez over to first base, but Harrison’s encore so far is not helping raise too many Jolly Rogers.

Catcher: Chris Iannetta, Angels. One of the majors’ finest offenses from a year ago is a late starter this summer. Iannetta is hitting .123/.217/.137.

Left field: Melky Cabrera, White Sox. The Sox had a very good week and look like they are making their move. It will become much easier for them once Cabrera, slugging a career-worst .296, heats up.

Center field: Andrew McCutchen, Pirates. How rough has it been for Cutch? Not that his painfully slow offensive start is driving him batty, but he’s admitted to talking to his bat while trying to get going. Easiest prediction of the year: When the season’s over, Cutch will be hitting far above his current .233/.331/.383.

Right field: Carlos Beltran, Yankees. It’s clear the Yankees signed him a year too late, but that .271 on-base percentage really stands out. Beltran’s career OBP: .355.

Designated hitter: Victor Martinez, Tigers. I’m grading on a curve here, as Martinez missed most of spring training following knee surgery. So he started behind, and he’s going to catch up. But through his first 33 games, one homer and .224/.317/.280 is a rough start.

Starting Pitcher: Taijuan Walker, Mariners. So many people were on Seattle’s bandwagon this spring (yes, my hand is raised as well), and part of that is because the pitching was in place behind King Felix Hernandez. But Walker (1-4, 7.22 ERA) has been a colossal dud so far. “I saw him this spring and thought he would win the Cy Young Award,” one scout says. Ugh.

Closer: Steve Cishek, Marlins. There are many reasons this team is off to a disappointing start and Redmond is an ex-manager. Cishek’s blowing four of his first seven save opportunities is a very large one.

3. Where It Turned Around for the Nationals

The Nationals have become the club we all thought they would be, ripping off 15 wins in their past 19 games heading into this week. And if Matt Williams’ team is playing deep into October this autumn, circle April 28 and 29 on your calendar as the dates it all turned around.

Yes, part of their slow start was because Jayson Werth, Denard Span and Anthony Rendon all opened the season on the disabled list (Rendon is still out). But that slow start ended for good not only when Washington stormed back from a 9-1 deficit against the Atlanta Braves to win 13-12 on April 28 but also when the Nats closed that series by winning 13-4 the next day.

“That game in Atlanta, I never said after any regular-season game, ‘This game means a lot,'” ace Max Scherzer told B/R over the weekend. “But when we had that great comeback and then won again the next day, that’s what got it going. Those two games. You can’t take one.

“That was one of the best regular-season wins I’ve ever been a part of. It was a cloud-nine moment, and I didn’t even play.”

4. The Long and Short of It

Talk to nearly anyone in the game, and the answer is just about unanimous: Nationals’ right-hander Tanner Roark is the best “sixth man” going (meaning the next starter up after a five-man rotation). He would be a part of any rotation in the game, except where he is—in Washington.

The Nationals know how good they have it too. Pitching coach Steve McCatty was still teasing Roark the other day about his numbers from Arizona last Wednesday: The tall right-hander worked 1.2 innings in relief, threw 49 pitches, surrendered three hits, walked two…and didn’t allow a run.

“I’ve never seen that before,” McCatty says.

Just the latest example of Roark the Magician.

5. You Want Out of the Box? This Is Out of the Box

So Cubs manager Joe Maddon canceled batting practice before Friday’s day game following Thursday night’s 6-5 win over the Mets.

Result? The Cubs outslugged the Pirates 11-10 in 12 innings.

Of course.

“I think it’s the most overrated thing we do,” Maddon said of batting practice before the game at Wrigley Field. “On a daily basis, we swing the bat way too often. I don’t know what the genesis of that was. If I had to nail it down, the ’80s—the early ’80s—when hitting coaches became more prominent and all this teaching became more prominent, batting practice became a longer exercise.

“And extra batting practice and hitting off tees and hitting in cages and swinging and swinging and swinging, and I think it can be counterproductive. I think guys can hit themselves right through feel. You can be feeling really well, and my point is if you do it too often, you get to the point where you lose that feel.”

6. Error: Colorado general manager Jeff Bridich

Regarding the ongoing (and endless) debate over whether the Colorado Rockies are going to trade Troy Tulowitzki or should trade Tulowitzki (the answer is yes, by the way), Bridich is taking the old blame-the-messenger route.

“Most of the media likes to create news,” he told reporters, via the Los Angeles Times.

He also told MLB Network Radio’s Jim Bowden it was media speculation.

Timeout here, because that’s a load of bunk.

This all started last week when Tulowitzki’s agent, Paul Cohen, told the New York Post on the record that he planned to meet with Tulo to discuss whether to ask for a trade.

“To say that is not a possibility would be silly,” Cohen said.

That is not media speculation.

That is an agent and a superstar steaming down the tracks together like a locomotive. And even though Tulowitzki backed off later in the week, this story isn’t going away.

7. Weekly Power Rankings

1. Bryce Harper: If he stays off the disabled list, you are looking at the NL MVP.

2. Mad Men: I’d like to buy the world a Coke…but only after Harper’s next at-bat is finished!

3. Giancarlo Stanton: Ka-BOOM! 

4. Adrian Beltre and Miguel Cabrera: Messrs. 400. Welcome to the club. Now…is Beltre a Hall of Famer?

5. B.B. King: Farewell to a legend. And it is so awesome that back in the day, Will “The Thrill” Clark greeted callers with an answering machine message featuring King’s “The Thrill Is Gone.” Perfect then; touching now.

8. Shelby Miller Joins the So-Close Club

One out away from a no-hitter Sunday against the Marlins, all Atlanta’s right-hander got was some dugout high-fives, some “attaboys” and a place on this list:

9. Please Don’t Shout ‘Fire!’ in a Crowded Stadium

Did you see that the smokestack in Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark caught fire during a game last week against the San Francisco Giants? And they played on without a delay.

9a. Rock ‘n’ Roll Lyric of the Week

One reason I will take the Rolling Stones over the Beatles (no offense, love the Beatles too) is because the Stones soaked themselves in the blues early on. And B.B. King always said he got on his knees and thanked them because that is one reason King and others remained popular—because legends like the Stones paid homage. Sleep well, Mr. King.

“Well, there’s one kind of favor I’ll ask of you
There’s just one kind of favor I’ll ask of you
You can see that my grave is kept clean
And there’s two white horses following me
And there’s two white horses following me
I got two white horses following me
Waiting on my burying ground”

— B.B. King, “See That My Grave is Kept Clean”

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.

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For the likes of Clayton Kershaw and Andrew McCutchen, it’s still much too early to hit the panic button.

Then again, as the 2015 season reaches the one-quarter mark, two of the game’s most dominant superstars have yet to get on track. While Kershaw and McCutchen are the most prominent players to tumble into a slump, there are also starting rotations, batting orders and even entire squads that have yet to find their way.

The good news for these slow starters is that the 162-game season is a marathon, and there’s still plenty of time to change course. Still, that doesn’t mean the players and teams on this list have any intention of being patient. One of the biggest names to make the cut has already enlisted the help of one of baseball’s all-time greats in an effort to put his early-season funk in the rear-view mirror.

Begin Slideshow

Few players in baseball have been more consistently MVP-worthy over the past handful of seasons than Andrew McCutchen. Yet more than a month into 2015, the Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder, who has three straight top-three NL MVP finishes—including the 2013 trophy—has looked nothing like his usual MVP-caliber self.

In fact, entering play Tuesday, the 28-year-old is hitting just .219/.308/.342 with but two home runs and one stolen base through 31 games.

This, from a stud who has averaged—that’s averaged—a slash line of .320/.405/.534 with more than 25 homers, nearly 90 RBI and almost 22 steals per from 2012 to 2014.

Short of copping out by calling this something of a Samson situation after Cutch cut his dreads for charity this past offseason, let’s delve into what’s been going wrong here—and whether the Pirates superstar can turn things around.

To McCutchen’s credit—and perhaps a little to the concern of folks in Pittsburgh—he understandably is fed up with his mediocre performance so far.

“I’m sick and tired of going 0-for-freaking-4,” he told Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in early May. “I know I’m better than that. … It’s under mediocre right now. It’s bad.”

That’s refreshing to hear from a player, let alone one of McCutchen’s ilk. But it also sounds like a man searching for answers rather than one who knows how to find them, which is more discouraging than refreshing.

It’s not as if he is lacking for confidence, though. “I feel good. I feel strong when I’m up there. I feel fine when I’m hitting,” McCutchen said to Sawchik. “I can’t sit here and say my knee is the reason. I don’t believe so. I just believe I’m a little off. … Once it’s going, it ain’t gonna stop. While I’m down, get me while I’m down.”

In reading that second quote, you no doubt came across McCutchen’s passing reference to his knee. This, one figures, is related to the somewhat vague “lower body soreness” he was battling through during spring training, as Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported back in mid-March.

The injury kept McCutchen out of a number of games during the exhibition season and had to have impacted his preparation for the real games, which likely is part of why he hasn’t been his consistently uber-productive self.

The problem also hasn’t completely gone away, as McCutchen took himself out of a game during the opening week and questions about the knee have lingered into May, much like the apparent ailment itself.

In diagnosing McCutchen’s performance, a good place to start is with his plate discipline. His 9.8 percent walk percentage and 15.8 percent strikeout percentage both are within range of not only his career marks, but also those of the past few seasons.

As far as his contact rates, all of those seem to be more or less right in line with years past. His overall contact percentage of 78.8 percent isn’t far off his career rate (80.4 percent); and the same goes for his 9.3 percent swinging strike rate (8.2 percent career).

McCutchen’s batting average on balls in play, however, sticks out like crazy. Entering play Tuesday, he owns a .245 BABIP, which is remarkably lower than his .332 career number—and more than 100 points south of his lowest BABIP in any of the past three seasons (.353 in 2013).

The quick takeaway from that, of course, is that McCutchen has been superbly unlucky and merely needs to exorcise the demons, like so:

But let’s go a little deeper than that, shall we? This is, after all, one of the very elite players in baseball, and this slump has gone on for more than a month now.

The next portion of data to look into is McCutchen’s batted ball breakdown. He’s exchanged a few percentage points of line drives for ground balls, but it’s nothing that looks out of whack. Then again, grounders tend to find holes, which is why McCutchen’s drastic downturn in BABIP is even more puzzling.

The league-wide BABIP on grounders in 2015 is .237, and it normally settles in around the .230-.250 range. By comparison, McCutchen’s BABIP on grounders in his career is .311, but in 2015 it’s just .268.

In other words, it’s strange that McCutchen has been hitting the ball on the ground more often, yet it’s still producing a lower than usual BABIP for him. To an extent, that should start to even out.

The one counterpoint, however, is that McCutchen is hitting a much higher percentage of soft worm-burners (26.8 percent) compared to hard grounders (17.1) than he has in the past. To wit, the percentage of hard ground balls he has hit the past three years going backward were 28.0, 31.8 and 22.6.

At the same time, he’s pulling fewer balls (38.9 percent versus 43.2 percent career) while also trading hard contact (32.6 percent versus 36.9 percent career) for more soft contact (15.8 percent versus 13.5 percent career), enough that it’s noticeable, at least to this point in 2015. And if the focus is on the past few seasons only, the difference is even more stark.

Lastly, McCutchen’s 5.3 home run-to-fly-ball ratio is well below his 12.3 career figure, which speaks to both his misfortune as well as his inability to drive the ball with full force early on.

The bottom line? McCutchen’s approach remains the same, which is good. The contact rates do, too. Also good. But the type of contact, namely the amount of authority behind it, is different—and not in a good way.

As Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs concludes after examining the data and the footage for Fox Sports’ Just a Bit Outside:

The matter with Andrew McCutchen is his swing. Maybe he’s still in pain, and maybe he’s not still in enough pain for it to matter. But regardless, he has a swing that’s seemingly compensating for an uncomfortable left leg. And that’s not the swing of a successful Andrew McCutchen.

The bad news is McCutchen doesn’t appear to be quite as healthy as he’s letting on, which is typical of a world-class athlete with top-of-the-scale confidence in his abilities. The good news? Once McCutchen gets back to normal—assuming his knee can recover and get right in short order—then so, too, should his performance.

Even MVP-caliber players have slumps and slow starts. Now we have some idea why McCutchen is fighting through one for the first time since, well, he’s become an MVP.

Statistics are accurate through Monday, May 11, and courtesy of MLB.com, MiLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

To talk baseball or fantasy baseball, check in with me on Twitter: @JayCat11.

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From Andrew McCutchen to Chris Sale, some of baseball’s biggest names have been big-time duds in 2015.

The good news for the Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder and the Chicago White Sox ace is that it’s still early—really early. The bad news is that their teams play in two of the most competitive divisions in baseball—the type of divisions where a sideways start could be the kiss of death.

Combing through the league, McCutchen and Sale are two of the most prominent superstars who need to step up for their respective clubs before it’s too late, but they’re not the only ones. There’s also room on the list for a Cy Young Award winner and a member of one of the most hyped rotations in recent memory.

Begin Slideshow

Pittsburgh Pirates All-Star center fielder Andrew McCutchen is dealing with knee soreness. He left the team’s game against the Brewers on April 10 in the ninth inning and was ruled out of action for the game against Milwaukee the following day. 

Continue for updates.

McCutchen Out vs. Brewers

Saturday, April 11

The Pirates announced McCutchen would not be in Saturday’s lineup against the Brewers. As noted by Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, McCutchen left with the issue on April 10 in the ninth inning.

Sawhik provided more details from McCutchen, who spoke about his injury:

McCutchen was seemingly dealing with a nagging injury leading up to Opening Day, but it wasn’t enough to keep him out of the lineup.

It was wise for Pittsburgh to exercise caution with the face of its franchise, because McCutchen has been extremely durable since emerging as a superstar. Now, the Pirates have to hope the 28-year-old won’t be missing for too long after this latest ailment, because his leadership and impact cannot be replicated.

It’s a long season, and even if this is a precautionary move by the Pirates, it’s one they have to make to ensure their superstar remains healthy for the long term.

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Just a handful of games remain in the 2014 MLB season, and nearly every team knows its fate at this point. A few franchises are still holding out hope to make a late charge into the postseason, but the bubble has popped for others.

Strong starts for the Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves weren’t sustained, as both are on the outside looking in. Then there are the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics, who are still in a dogfight for a wild-card spot.

On the other side, the playoff positioning can still be shaken up over the weekend. The Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals are hoping to clinch the NL Central, with the title still hanging in the balance.

Rather than delaying the process until it becomes official, here is the full schedule and predictions for the wild-card showdowns.

Wild Card Predictions

AL Wild Card: Oakland Athletics at Kansas City Royals

The Mariners are still holding out hope of making it into the final wild-card spot, but this matchup seems destined to happen.

Oakland has been scuffling ever since the trade deadline, but it wouldn’t be in this position without Jon Lester in the rotation. If these two teams square off, he will have to outduel another pitcher known for stepping up in the clutch.

James Shields has been phenomenal this season, going 14-8 with a 3.21 ERA and 180 strikeouts. Big Game James is always a consistent force on the mound for the Royals, as Dave Holtzman of Fox Sports Kansas City notes:

It’s not determined at this point that Shields or Lester will toe the rubber, but it would offer a must-watch game.

If Kansas City’s offense can produce a few runs at home, Shields has the ability to close the door. Thanks to bats like Alex Gordon and the speed of Lorenzo Cain, this team has what it takes to contend in the playoffs.

Prediction: Royals win, 4-2.

NL Wild Card: San Francisco Giants at Pittsburgh Pirates

Both of these teams are confirmed for the postseason, but the Pirates might not have to face a win-and-in situation. For now, we’ll assume that Pittsburgh and San Francisco will battle for the spot, with the Pirates getting home-field advantage.

Pittsburgh comes in to the contest as one of the hottest teams in baseball, having won 12 of the last 15 games, including two series wins over the Brewers and Braves. Manager Clint Hurdle spoke about the team’s resilience, per Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

I’ve been in situations where you can tell you just aren’t good enough. That thought never crossed my mind this year. The beauty of it is that, on paper, there probably are a lot of teams that look better than us. But I continue to remind these guys that we don’t play on paper. We get to go play on grass. That’s what we do well. We’re a good team. They like being on the team.

The Giants have postseason experience. Not just a few guys who have been in the playoffs, but leaders like Buster Posey and Bruce Bochy, who were part of the 2010 and 2012 World Series-winning teams.

But what the Pirates have is a hunger and one of the best position players in all of baseball. Since his return from a rib injury, Andrew McCutchen has been a catalyst for the team, as ESPN Stats & Info points out:

It will no doubt be a battle that stretches until the final innings, but expect the Pirates to secure a berth into the division series. Thanks to an explosive offense and one of the best recent records in baseball coming in, Pittsburgh will be too much for San Francisco.

Prediction: Pirates 6, Giants 4

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