This week’s series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs began with the Cubs eliminating the Pirates from playoff contention on Monday and ended with Chicago clinching its first postseason berth since 2020 on Wednesday.
The Cubs swept their three-game series with Pittsburgh at PNC Park, outscoring the Pirates 16-5. Chicago, which has now won seven of its last eight games, improved to 88-64 overall and 10-5 in September.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh is going in the opposite direction. The Pirates stand at 65-88 after losing 11 of their last 12 games, falling a season-worst 23 games below .500.
Pittsburgh was unable to muster much offense during the first two games of the series, scoring just one run on seven hits combined on Monday and Tuesday. It didn’t help that Tuesday’s game featured one of Paul Skenes’ worst performances of the year, continuing his recent struggles against the Cubs.
Chicago finished off the sweep with an 8-4 victory on Wednesday, pulling away in the late innings after the Pirates rallied from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game.
Story continues below advertisement
The Cubs dominated Pittsburgh this year, going 10-3 against the Pirates and outscoring them 54-26. That success helped them clinch a postseason spot for the first time since 2020, ending a four-year playoff drought. They still trail the Milwaukee Brewers by 4.5 games in the NL Central standings with only 10 games remaining, however, so they’ll likely end up with a wild card spot.
Pittsburgh hasn’t made the postseason since 2015 and hasn’t had a winning season since 2018, so the team still has work to do on that front. The Pirates will try to bounce back against the Athletics at home this weekend before ending the regular season on the road next week.
More Pirates: Does Pirates’ NL Central Rival Have Paul Skenes’ Number?
Story continues below advertisement
Featured image via Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images