Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Jared Hughes knows wins never come easy against fellow National League Central teams, and so far the Pirates have had a hard time getting those wins.
The Pirates have been a woeful 14-20 against fellow National League Central teams this year. Breaking it down, the club is 2-4 against the Cardinals, 4-6 against the Cubs, 6-3 versus the Milwaukee Brewers and a dreadful 2-7 vs. the Cincinnati Reds.
“There are a bunch of good teams in the NL Central,” Hughes said. “We all play each other very hard and we know each other very well. It’s a battle every time we face them.”
So why have the Pirates struggled against other NL Central teams this year, sans the Brewers?
Catcher Chris Stewart thinks it may be due to familiarity.
“Teams have seen a lot of our starting pitching staff and it’s not like we have any new guys they haven’t seen before,” Stewart said.
Take the Reds, for example, as a team that uses their familiarity with the Pirates to their advantage.
Against the Pirates, Billy Hamilton has attempted to steal 13 times and has been successful in 12 of them. Now compare that to his performance against the Cubs and Cardinals. Hamilton has only attempted six steals in nine games against Chicago, and only once in six games against the Cardinals. The Cubs are 7-2 against the Reds, while the Cardinals are 5-1.
Maybe there is a correlation there, or maybe there isn’t. Regardless, it shows how facing a team enough to figure out their weaknesses can be used against them.
But even though the Pirates have struggled against NL Central teams this year, there is no reason to panic just yet.
Since 2013 the Pirates have always played the Cardinals tough, going 20-24 record against them while actually boasting a +2 run differential against the Redbirds in that time. And what’s more is that out of the three NL teams with a better record against the Cardinals in that span – the Atlanta Braves, San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers – only the Dodgers have a positive run differential against the Cardinals.
St. Louis has the best record in baseball since 2013, yet the Pirates have consistently shown they can beat them.
The Pirates have also shown they know how to beat Chicago.
Since 2013, the Pirates have more wins against the Cubs than they do against any other team in that time while posting a +37 run differential. But this is not the Cubs of past years, and it is unlikely that the Pirates will have that kind of dominance over Chicago going forward.
Still, they are a young team that the Pirates have yet to become as acquainted with the way they were with past Cub teams, and, while they have plenty of talent, it remains to be seen if the Cubs can sustain their level of play for a full season.
And if that is not enough, seven of the 13 remaining games against the Cardinals and six of the last nine against the Cubs will be played at PNC Park, and it just so happens that the Pirates have more wins against those two teams on the North Shore than against any other in the last three seasons.
If what Stewart says about knowing what to expect when the Pirates play these two teams is true, it would not be a surprise if the Pirates rack up some wins against them.
While it will not be easy going against either of those two teams, the biggest thorn in the Pirates side the rest of the year may be the Reds. The Pirates have a .426 winning percentage with a -35 run differential against the Reds over the past three seasons, and seven of the ten remaining games against them will be played in Cincinnati.
Despite the poor record against divisional foes this year, Hughes seems confident that the Pirates record against them will even out. And that will be necessarily if the Pirates want to be more than just a Wild Card team again and make a deep October run.
“We have knowledge on these teams and we’re going to use it just like they use theirs on ours. I really think if we go out day-by-day and prepare that we’re going to show we’re the best.”
PSN’s Zac Weiss also contributed to this article.
Photo credit: Jeff Curry/USA Today
