Another week has elapsed in the MLB season. The all-star game has come and gone, with Paul Skenes pitching a scoreless bottom of the first and Bryan Reynolds accruing a pinch-hit single in his only plate appearance. 

One would have thought that the break came at the worst possible time for the Pirates. They had won four-straight games (albeit three of them against the league-worst Chicago White Sox) and six of their last seven. The five days off that the break provided would likely halt the team’s momentum before important series against the Phillies, Cardinals, and Diamondbacks. 

This did not turn out to be true. The Pirates took two out of three games from the Phillies—who have the best win percentage in all of baseball—in the battle of Pennsylvania, in front of three MASSIVE crowds (yes, I know there were a ton of Phillies fans), despite trotting out a starting pitching staff of Martín Pérez (who should never start another game in black and gold), Luis Ortiz, and Marco Gonzales. 

The first game of the series started as expected, with Pérez conceding three first-inning runs on two walks, a double, two singles, and a hit-by-pitch. This would prove  to be a reliable forecast for Pérez’s final line, as he finished with the following: 3.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R (all earned), 2 BB, 4 K. His ERA has reached 5.49, despite his first four starts on the season having an aggregate line of 24.2 innings pitched and only 7 earned runs allowed. After his third start of the campaign, his ERA was 1.89–3.6 points lower than what it is currently. 

The bats woke up very quickly, answering the Phillies’ three-run outburst in the top of the first with three runs of their own in the home half of the inning, with an O’Neil Cruz RBI double, a Nick Gonzales RBI groundout, and a Rowdy Tellez sacrifice fly accounting for three of the eventual four runs the Buccos would amass against former all-star Aaron Nola. 

As I alluded to earlier, Pérez was not done giving up runs. He allowed a solo home run in the third to Weston Wilson—which was again answered by a Rowdy Tellez sacrifice fly—and then a two-run bomb to Trea Turner the following inning. Pérez exited the ballgame as the pitcher of record, with the Pirates trailing 6-4 in the fourth inning.

The Phillies would add on a seventh, as Kyle Schwarber’s sacrifice fly would be an earned run charged to his namesake Kyle Nicolas, who had come on in relief for Pérez.  The Pirates scratched and clawed their way back from another three-run deficit, though. O’Neil Cruz’s single and Rowdy Tellez’s (third) sacrifice fly would bring home two runs in the seventh inning, trimming the lead to one. In the bottom of the ninth, a double-steal got both Michael A. Taylor and Andrew McCutchen into scoring position, who O’Neil Cruz and Nick Gonzales could drive in, the latter walking the game off for the Bucs. They were 49-48, over .500 for the first time in two-plus months. 

Saturday’s game pitted all-star Christopher Sánchez against Luis Ortiz, who had been a welcome addition to the starting rotation after injuries to Bailey Falter and Jared Jones opened up vacancies. Ortiz out-dueled Sánchez, spinning 7 innings of three-hit, shutout ball. Sánchez pitched very well until the sixth inning, when an Andrew McCutchen home run and (another) O’Neil Cruz RBI double chased him from the game. The Bucs would later add on, with Cruz generating more offense, hitting a two-run bomb in the bottom of the eighth. David Bednar would see out the game in the ninth, allowing a solo shot to Bryce Harper but otherwise completing a sweat-free top of the ninth to win the series. 

The sweep was not meant to be, as the Bucs got blanked 6-0 yesterday by a pitcher with whom I was completely unfamiliar. Gonzales gave up two runs in 4.2 innings, and Cruz committed two fielding errors, allowing three unearned runs to score while Kyle Nicolas was on the mound. Nick Castellanos would add a ninth-inning homer because, of course, he always hits home runs when there are events that occur on a global scale. The offense was anemic, generating just six hits and another baserunner via a free pass in the series finale. 

While it was a bit disappointing to not get the sweep, if you had told me that the Pirates would take two out of three from the team with the best record in baseball—with Martín Pérez and Marco Gonzales pitching the bookends—I would have taken that, no questions asked. In fact, I am on the record stating that the Pirates were punting the series by not starting Keller and/or Skenes, as the upcoming series against the Cardinals and the Diamondbacks are more important for playoff positioning…

Which is a nice segue into what I want to discuss. The series against the Cardinals from today through Wednesday may be the most important series the Buccos have played since their last playoff appearance. At the time of writing, the playoff standings are as follows: 

The Pirates are a half-game out of a wild-card spot right now and are two games behind the Cards. A sweep would see the Buccos leapfrog the redbirds, while a series win would have us within one game of them. These are the series that playoff teams have to win: at home, against a divisional foe, against whom you are competing for a postseason berth. 

On paper, the Pirates have the pitching advantage in two of the three games. Tonight’s contest sees Mitch Keller’s 3.46 ERA face Andre Pallante, who has a 4.21 ERA but has been better in July, with that number decreasing to 3.38 this month (albeit with a sample size of two). Tomorrow, Paul Skenes brings his -1100 National League Rookie of the Year betting odds to PNC Park to face longtime MLB pitcher Lance Lynn, who averages a shade under 4.4 earned runs allowed per nine innings. The Cardinals do not have a starter listed for Wednesday on Bleacher Report yet…and the Pirates have Martín Pérez. I am, of course, hoping that that is an algorithmic thing and not something the Pirates have announced, as the man should not start another game for the team.

If the Pirates manage to win this series—and the next one in Arizona, against a Diamondbacks team that is only a half game ahead of us at the time of writing—it may be difficult for me to contain my enthusiasm.

It is because of this possibility that I implore this team to not give me false hope for the umpteenth time. Either make a run and acquire some players, or lose these series and rebuild for next year. I cannot handle the disappointment towards which this excitement is inevitably building, but that playoff spot is there for the taking. There are two choices: grab it firmly, or do not make an effort to touch it. Reaching for it and coming up short would leave a broken fanbase shattered yet again.