To secure one of the Wild Card's? Will 90 wins do it? They would have to go 44 and 32. Not entirely out of the realm of possibility. Out of the next 12 games, 6 are against the Nats and 3 are against the Braves. Another big test that they can not fail.

I think the magic number will be 87 wins for the 2nd wildcard spot.

The goal should be to catch the nationals. While, on the surface, it looks like there are 5 playoff spots per league...in reality, it's more like 3. It's a pretty big uphill climb as a wildcard team.

No more different than any team that comes into the post season as a wild card. They're just playing one extra game. What baseball should have done with this 2nd WC was make it a best 2 of 3 series. That would have made it much harder for the WC team to advance into the playoffs. Anyway, they are 6 games behind the Nats and now only a game behind the WC, even though there are two other teams tied with them. However, right now they have a better chance of the second WC than they do the division.

Looking at the NL, I'd expect the Pirates to ultimately fall off...not saying I expect them to lose 90, but I highly doubt they're making the Playoffs. That leaves the NL Central to either Cincy or St. Louis.

The West will come down to LA or SF.

In the East, if you're assuming the Nats win the Division, the other contenders would be the Mets and Atlanta.

So, you'd have the Mets, Braves, LA or SF, Cincy or St. Louis battling for the 2 WC spots.

I think 88 wins gets the 2nd WC.

Funny thing, I bet the Pirates are looking at the Mets and are expecting them to fall off too.

The same way we believe that we can pitch with anyone, and therefore, stay in this thing, Pittsburgh should feel the same.

There's no real reason to expect them to fall off simply because they were the Black and Gold with the P on their hat.

They have currently one of the top 5 or so position players in the game in their lineup (like the Mets), a solid 1-5 that keeps them in games everyday for the most part (like the Mets)...but unlike the Mets, they have a dominant bullpen. Highest reliever ERA is 3.81 from Tony Watson, a situational LOOGy. Best bullpen ERA in BASEBALL (Mets are dead last).

If the Mets are sticking around in this thing, you better believe the Pirates are.

Their rotation really isn't that good after the first 3. Correia and Bedard have looked mediocre/bad lately.

Also, if you subscribe to the volatility of bullpens theory, they're bound to regress a bit in the second half. They currently have some incredible metrics in leveraged situations.

Unless the Pirates trade for a bat, or Marte comes out gangbusters on a call-up, the Pirates are going to struggle to win that division. Cutch can't do it all on his own.

That being said, go pirates #bucn

The Pirates are also 29th in the Majors in OBP. They've been scoring runs at an insane clip lately, but something has to give.

Again, I think they'll finish around the .500 mark. Just don't think they'll be in it to the end.

Good for the Pirates. I hated them as a kid in the 70's when they were winning and hated the Leyland led Pirates too. But I have to say, good for them and great for their fans. As bad as Met fans think they've had it, Pirates fans have been in worse shape.

Don't overlook the fact that they play in the NL Central. Lots of games vs. Astros and Cubs.

Well, Cutch has a better immediate supporting cast than David has - or at least has, to date, as surprising as that may be. Alvarez and Walker have been better than any other non-Wright Met position player.

And the backend of their rotation reminds me of ours - Correia is like their Young (boring, keeps you in the game, will never really be dominant), Bedard their Gee
(better than the ERA and record indicates). And they have Brad Lincoln pitching great in a swingman role they can eventually slide in (just like Batista!! Errr...)

Anyway, I just think when I look at the teams, if you believe in the Mets, you should believe in the Buccos. The strongest argument against that is "LOLPirates", basically.