Pittsburgh Pirates Gaining Ground In This Week’s MLB Power Rankings
By Larry Snyder
The Pittsburgh Pirates (24-22) are the talk of the National League as they closed out their recent homestand with back-to-back sweeps of the New York Mets and Miami Marlins.
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During their six-game winning streak, the Bucs have hit .308 with seven home runs and 35 runs scored. They are 16-6 this season when they score first and 21-2 when leading after six innings. Pittsburgh has 10 comeback wins in their back pocket.
Clint Hurdle‘s squad has posted a 1.33 ERA over the six wins with the starters recording a 1.32 ERA. The bullpen is not to be overlooked as they posted a 0.93 ERA with three saves.
The Pirates have swept four series this season and have been swept on three occasions. Time to check out the rest of the Buccos numbers after 46 contests:
Pirates At Home: 15-9 / On The Road: 9-13
NL Central Record: 12-16 / NL East Record: 8-2
NL West Record: 3-0 / Inter-League Play: 1-4
Runs Scored: 189 / Runs Allowed: 154 – Earned Runs Allowed: 141
All the experts around the internet have the Pirates moving up this week in their power rankings. Two of the sites have Pittsburgh making the Top 10. Let’s take a closer look at these rankings.
Pittsburgh Pirates
Bleacher Report – This Week #10 / Last Week #14 – Joel Reuter likes that Josh Harrison seems to be hitting his stride at the plate.
CBS Sports – This Week #10 / Last Week #16 – Matt Snyder figured it was just a matter of time till the Bucs turned it on.
ESPN – This week #15 / Last Week #16 – This week’s panel at ESPN.com is impressed by the recent strikeout totals of Gerrit Cole, A.J. Burnett, and Francisco Liriano.
FanSided – This Week #12 / Last Week #15 – Kyle Franzoni feels that now is the time for the Bucs to make up some ground on the first place Cardinals.
FOX Sports – This Week #15 / Last Week #16 – Craig Goldstein admires the Pirates recent surge in offense.
SI.com – This Week #11 / Last Week #13 – The staff at Sports Illustrated joins the growing chorus across the web in moving the Pirates up in their survey.
USA Today – This Week #12 / Last Week #18 – The writers at USA Today agree that Andrew McCutchen is rounding into All-Star form.
Yahoo Sports – This Week #11 / Last Week #14 – Tim Brown thinks the Pirates big run differential will get them into one of those fancy bowl games.
Do you agree with this latest ranking by the experts? Do the Pirates deserve to be rated higher at this point? Let your fellow fans know in the comments section below.
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