A Phenomenal Season By The Pittsburgh Pirates Could End Up Being Overlooked

To say that the Pittsburgh Pirates have had a good 2015 campaign thus far would almost sound foolish at this point. The Pirates of 2015 have as good of a chance as any team to win the World Series. 

The table below shows the current World Series odds according to Bovada.com.

Pittsburgh may not have the best of odds than than teams like the Blue Jays, Cardinals, Royals and Dodgers, but despite what the odds say, the Pirates have just as good of a chance than teams like the Mets, Yankees, Cubs and Astros.

The Pirates haven't lost to the Mets at all in their six meetings split between two series this year. The Nationals are under .500, granted enduring quite a few injuries, but all teams are including Pittsburgh. As far as the Dodgers are concerned, they are a good team but can anyone trust that bullpen? However, when Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke headline a managers starting rotation, that's a frontline duo that can't be matched in baseball. The Pirates exposed the Dodgers weakness recently when they swept them at PNC Park. The Dodgers bullpen is not good and has blown several games recently, but the Dodgers are keeping faith in their bullpen as they head into the final month.

The Pirates are not necessarily the best team in baseball but they did go and add some bench depth at the trade deadline, which they really needed. Utility infielder Jung Ho Kang is playing so well that he is ranked the best rookie by CBSSports.com. Josh Harrison and Jordy Mercer are close to returning which adds even more depth and talent to a team, giving them a good chance come October.

They have proven they can beat the St. Louis Cardinals head-to-head, but they do struggle at Busch Stadium. The Pirates also saw Kansas City on the road where they lost two out of three, but now that they have added some depth to their offense, they will be able to keep up with a team like the Royals a lot easier. But that's looking way too far ahead, which is the whole point of this.

Pirates fans around Pittsburgh always seem to be looking way too far ahead. The Pirates still have to finish the season out and then anything can happen from there. They're almost a lock for the playoffs and there's no evidence to suggest that they fall apart and do not make the postseason. They may not play a home Wild Card game, but the Pirates will ultimately end up in the playoffs. However, for a lot of people in Pittsburgh, that is not nearly enough from the 2015 squad.

After Monday's loss, this writer tuned into the Pirates post game show on 93.7 the Fan FM. A gentleman by the name of Ozzie called into the show and was losing his mind at the fact that the Pirates lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-1, a team on paper they should beat. But God forbid the Pirates losing one game at the hands of team with a lesser record.

First off, the Diamondbacks have one of the better offenses in baseball. The reason the D-Backs are under .500 is because their pitching has not been good this year. Simply put, the Pirates had a bad night offensively resulting in a loss, causing far too much panic amongst the fans. The Pirates were coming off a weekend sweep on the road against the New York Mets and to top it off, the Pirates had still won four of their last five after the loss Monday. But that's not enough for people in Pittsburgh. This is a message, hopefully to the minority of Pirates fans.

Getting the first or second Wild Card spot and being 20-plus games over .500 will just not be good enough for some fans of the Pirates. All that will matter to the pessimistic fans that do exist is that the Pirates did not catch the Cardinals and how much of a failure that is. It may suck falling short of the Cardinals, yet again, because it seems to always happen. But there's a lot of positive takeaway from this season regardless of what happens. First of all, though St. Louis is probably going to win the division yet again, the Pirates do sit just five games behind the Cardinals and four games back in the loss column. This season boils down to a slow start by the Pirates in the first month and a half or so. Ever since then, the Pirates have been a very good team and they hold one of the best records in all of baseball. But that's still not good enough is it?

The argument that the Pirates could very easily be beaten by a Madison Bumgarner (again) or a Jon Lester in a one-game Wild Card is not foolish or unreasonable to think about. But who is to say the Pirates can't go out and have a dominant start from ace Gerrit Cole and get to one of those pitchers and beat the Giants or Cubs, or whoever they may play?

The skeptics would probably answer that with something about how Cole has not been good as of late. That's a legitimate argument but the fact of the matter is that even though he has not had his best stuff, and being the competitor that he is would say he has not been good, Cole has still been a victim of some bad defense behind him that has lengthened innings and caused problems in the overall outcomes of his starts. The Pittsburgh Pirates ace is still 14-7 with an ERA of 2.61 this year.

Take this for what it is worth, but keep in mind that this season is not a failure just because the Pirates may end up in the Wild Card game. The Pirates are the best team in baseball in one-run games and have a very good chance at taking the World Series crown. The Wild Card game is a crapshoot, but if the Pirates win that, they are a team that is built as good as any to win the World Series. Remember, the two teams that faced off in the World Series in 2014 were both Wild Card teams. 

The Major League Baseball season is far too long to harp on one bad loss or one bad outing from a starter. Regardless if the Pirates go out early again this year, 2015 has been far from a failure for Pittsburgh.