Our 3 Takeaways As Pirates Secure .500 Record and Series Win Against St. Louis

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I'm Cody, that's Doug, and Doug, I think it's fitting that you and I are on the last home game of the season postgame for a Paul Skenes start of all things.

I agree, I agree.

Because me and you were the ones early on saying there's something wrong with Paul Skenes.

Something is off, right.

Well, today Paul Skenes recorded his 200th strikeout of the year.

Still not sure how to put this season other than a failure to his standards.

But still, a bucko victory is a bucko victory.

The Pirates can't do worse than 500.

How are we feeling after today's game, Doug?

Can't do worse than third place.

I'm still disappointed.

It's been a disappointing season.

We had higher expectations.

However, this team doesn't finish 500 or above very often.

Right?

They just don't do it.

Since 1979, I think it's seven or eight seasons.

so it is something.

It's 10 more wins so far than last year.

Now, last year was an outlier because it was so bad.

Right?

Right?

They won 76 two years in a row and then fell backwards.

So it's not like we're making this linear progress or anything.

hey, listen.

It was nice to see Skane's finish.

he's still scuffled.

He only gives up one run.

But, at no point this season, even in his better starts, is he looked as good as he did last season.

The last two seasons.

Just hasn't.

There's been something off.

He says that part of the reason is probably because of the World Baseball Classic.

I hope that's right because there's not a World Baseball Classic.

Next year, it'll be the lockout.

They'll have to ramp up.

but – and we are hard on him.

Right?

10 and 11, 3.82 ERA, 200 strikeouts.

His whip is 1.12.

These are top 15, top 10 numbers in some cases.

But that ERA is just about two full runs higher than it is over his career.

And, sorry, Paul.

You set the standard.

And we are in a town where the standard is the standard to bring back a not-so-oldie, but goodie for sure.

Yeah, we'll see how long that phrase lasts in the next few years.

Don't get me started.

NSN 11, some other time.

But, yeah, let's start out talking about Paul Skene's.

The guy that me and you, like I said, we criticized a lot this year and saw the writing on the wall early on.

He starts out today, gets a fly out from Wetherholt, strikes out Herrera, and then gives up a no-doubter to Alec Burleson.

And at that point, I'm like, all right, Paul's just being 2026 Paul.

Like, he's just going to let it fly.

I was about to say, wait, here we go.

Here we go.

He just lets it – it seems like that's what he does this year is he just lets it fly.

He lets guys hit homers off him like they're candy.

And fortunately for us, that was the only run that he allowed today, the only run the Cardinals were able to muster.

And after that, he locked it down, Doug.

He comes back, gets Jordan Walker to strike out, to round out the first.

So, he's strikeouts and a home run in the first inning.

I can say, hindsight being 20-20, it's like, well, I gave up a solo home run to Alec Burleson, who's leading the league in RBI.

There's no shame in that, right?

The guy's a good hitter.

He's a power hitter.

But, yeah, like I said, he struck out, I think, six batters through the first three innings, two in each inning.

he was getting – he struggled a little, I think it was, in the fourth inning as far as just – he had a lot of pitches and got some guys on, that thing.

But he got out of it.

It's not a – the show title doesn't – does it?

I don't know.

I'm sorry?

What happened?

Jim posted it and it says, Pirates finished 44-37 at PNC Park.

Jim.

It's called clickbait, Jim.

Get with the program.

We're here to get views.

Call me Cody Page views.

Anyway, yeah.

So, look, he went six and a third.

He struck out – was it seven, eight?

What did he do?

Yeah, so – I can't, Jim.

You're very compelling.

You're very compelling, Jim.

Skenes ends up striking out.

Eight strikeouts.

Eight strikeouts.

Gets him right on 200 there to end the season.

And like you said, he threw the first three innings, two strikeouts an inning.

Just looked phenomenal after the home run.

And, it gets to the sixth inning.

He comes out.

He's at 90 pitches.

You're like, all right, good season from Paul Skenes.

He's – no way do they let him come out here for the seventh because that's how this team has operated all year.

Right.

I guess when a guy doesn't have to pitch again in 2026, you just say, screw it.

Go blow out your arm.

They let him go out and get his 200th strikeout to start the seventh inning.

Did you see him in between innings?

He was – he went and whispered to something to Donnie.

right there as it ended the dugout.

He's like – it could have been, did you see that girl in the third row?

But I'm wondering if he's like, I'll strike out the next guy.

Let me get that strikeout.

I wonder.

Whatever.

It worked.

He got the strikeout.

He went sixth and a third.

He only gave up the run.

He didn't win, but the Pirates won a Paul Skenes start, which has not been commonplace this year.

Hasn't been commonplace at all, Doug.

A nice finish at home.

We should mention that we stuck on 99 home runs at PNC Park this year.

Yeah, we'll get to that when we talk about the offense, but I do want to get to it.

I didn't know we were going to talk about the offense.

Okay.

Sorry, because there wasn't any.

There's always two halves to the show, Doug.

No.

I'm just saying we didn't have much offense to talk about.

Right.

Sticking with Skenes and what you were saying there about him going up to Donnie and trying to – he pled his case.

And, of course, like it's the end of the season.

This was his last start.

There wasn't going to be another opportunity for Paul Skenes to get a strikeout unless they, gave him the Sandy Alcatara role that Miami has done bringing him in to close out games.

But I don't foresee that being the Pirates' plan to get Skenes another strikeout.

So he pled his case, and Donnie gave it to him.

And that's part of the reason why – it's a very small reason, but it's part of the reason why these guys like Donnie.

They like him as the manager.

He hears them out.

They, it helps that he was the bench coach for a while on this team.

But with these younger guys, like, they appreciate that he hears them out.

And that's what happened today.

obviously, like, end of the season.

I keep emphasizing it was the end of the season.

Paul Skenes is not going to pitch again.

Why not?

Why not let him go to 100 pitches?

It's the last time he's going to be on a mound until, I would hope, the end of December.

Like, he's going to have to need a break.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

like I said, there was an argument there.

it's beginning of September.

Maybe you should just shut him down.

after one of those bad starts.

Like, shut him down for the rest of the season.

And that argument's valid.

I'm not saying that it should have been the decision, but there certainly was merit to that argument.

So, it's fine.

Look, baseball is very much an individual sport as well as a team sport.

So guys want to get numbers.

It matters to them.

Numbers in baseball matter more than any other sport.

And like you said, he threw, he got one more out.

he's off now.

He's off until, like you said, he, maybe starts throwing again in December or January.

he might not have to pitch in a regular season game for quite some time.

Right.

And hey, he did stay under 100 pitches, only through 96.

So through 60 strikes today, a great way to end the season for Paul Skenes.

A season that seemed like would never end for him, how poorly it went.

But a strong finish.

Hopefully this is something to look forward to in 2027, if there's a season in 2027.

Now, let's move on to the rest of the pitching here.

It should be quick because they were all pretty good.

You have Yohan Ramirez, the janitor.

I feel like I've said that about him before.

He just mops up everything.

Not much to mop up here, but he does come in, gets two outs real quick.

Then Soto comes in, lets up two hits, gets a strikeout, but he does continue his scoreless streak.

So good for Gregory Soto there.

And then Dreamweaver coming in to get that last out in the eighth.

Gets it with a strikeout.

It was a really good, really good, what would you say?

Not at bat, but really good outing for him, getting the one out.

But anything you got to say about those three in middle relief today, Doug, before we get on to the start?

it seems fitting, Yohan Ramirez did Yohan Ramirez things.

you think he hit a guy who, Soto did some Soto things.

But ultimately, a fitting, the 15, 16 people that were there, probably needed to have one more dose of the Soto experience.

And look, we've been hypercritical.

He did, he was bad there for a stretch.

But again, if somebody would have tended to the bullpen, he might not have been used as much.

And, he had a pretty good season.

Like, I don't feel like we got cheated by him.

this was not a Marcell Ozuna situation.

We paid the guy seven and a half, eight million, whatever it was.

And he was a pretty decent pitcher for most of the year.

He had a bad stretch.

Unfortunately, it was the same time when everybody else was having a bad stretch.

But again, better bullpen options, better bullpen management.

His year might not have been as bad, or whatever it was, as mixed as it was.

And, Weaver, look, we thought Weaver caught pyriditis when he first got here.

Turns out it was poison ivy.

But, and so he's on the team.

Okay, I'm just going to stop saying if there is a next season.

But we all know that there may be some.

So he's on the team next year.

He's under contract for the fires for next year.

And I'm excited about having him on our bullpen.

He is a really good pitcher.

And you have him and then Montgomery.

Come on.

That is, we're two-thirds there to a shark tank.

get me some Tommy Watson up in here and we're ready to go.

Well, you mentioned it.

Mason Montgomery comes in to get the save and just mows down the Cardinals.

Three strikeouts.

Gets the save.

I believe that's his 17th of the season.

And just the development of this guy into a closer has been phenomenal.

We talked about this before the show, Doug.

Like, where was this earlier?

almost like a why did it take so long to put him in this position?

Now, understandably, he probably had to build into it.

can't just throw a guy in a save situation that's never been there and expect him to succeed, right?

And they worked him into it.

And it seems to have paid off.

And it seems like the Pirates have a closer for the next couple of years that is really effective.

Yeah, it's hard to sit here and say that they did not handle Montgomery correctly, right?

it's like the results are pretty good.

What's frustrating about it is that think of all the positives that have happened this season.

if I had told you at the beginning of the season that, Cruz would hit lefties at over 300, that Nick Gonzales would hit over 300 and break out, that Brandon Lowe would have over 30 home runs and almost 100 RBIs,

and that, Konnor Griffin would handle himself really well, and that Montgomery would come in and be a lights-out closer, and that Esmerlyn Valdez would hit almost 20 home runs, and Rafael Fleur.

we've had so many things go right this year.

It's shocking that we have 81 victories.

We should have 95 based on the things that went well.

Here we are.

Right.

It's that feeling of, like, almost everything went right, and yet we're not going to make the playoffs.

And we were never a threat to.

Right.

Except, in May, early May.

Right.

During this game, like, that's what I kept thinking was, like, even in the beginning when the bats were hitting a little bit, and we'll get to that, but I was like, man, this is probably one of the best teams that isn't going to make the playoffs this year.

They have their problems, and they are large problems, but they're also just so fun to watch.

Like, this is what we hoped for.

Like, we could go back and do an NS9 Live or a Bucco Brew from over a year ago, and you would hear Jim say, just make 2026 interesting.

And that's what they did.

And that's all that we thought would happen.

We didn't expect for this team to take such large strides that they had.

I was going to say, you watched the over-under show.

None of our big three predicted 85 wins.

Like, I don't think any of them got predicted over 83.

So we're right in line.

We're right in line.

I bet you I could scrub back and find it.

I bet you I could because I remember it.

I'm the one that makes the clips.

I watched the show several times, Jim.

I know what you said.

I'm a great golden god.

Did I say that?

I never said that.

No, this is the destination.

It's the journey, right?

It's how we got to where we are, right?

Sure.

I know you didn't say 85 wins.

Jim, I know you didn't say 85 wins.

Don't find that if you did.

But, yeah, the frustration is that we saw it early on.

They were blowing a game.

we'd have a five-run lead in the eighth inning, and they were blowing games epically and bad early, even when we were winning, you know.

And even when the bats were hot and, Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller were still pitching well, we were blowing some games.

And we saw it.

And I remember saying things like, well, listen, this team's got some flaws, the defense, obviously, and the bullpen.

But the bullpen's the easiest thing to fix.

And it was, it was the E.

Wait a minute.

Josh, don't make me ban you, brother.

You know how much I love you.

But if you start taking Jim Rosati's side, even if he's right, we're going to have issues.

I'm going to be looking for you at spring training.

So, yeah, it's, it was very simple.

They fixed the bullpen really easy with, not giving anything up.

So, gee, it'd be nice.

Yeah.

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But let's talk about the offense today, Doug.

And, only two runs score.

But as I alluded to earlier, the first, like, three or four innings was pretty exciting, minus maybe one inning.

But you start the game out with a double from Oneil Cruz, and it's like, man, how the hell did that thing go over the center fielder's head?

He just got the backspin on that ball somehow, and it just kept going.

He's, what a season.

What, gosh, marred by injury, but, what a season.

And I know it's not offense, but today I was thinking how smooth he looked in center field, too.

He just looked more like he knew what he was doing.

He looked a little smoother out there.

It is.

What a great season.

The Oneil Cruz haters must be pulling their hair out because he's hitting the ball hard.

He's hitting lefties.

he hits a double and then steals third base.

He's got 29 steals.

I think he's played 100 games.

is it 100?

I'm not even sure.

But, yeah.

I still can't believe people wanted this guy traded.

There were people that said EFA.

Even at the time when that conversation was happening of trade Cruz, he was still one of the most productive players on the team.

Granted, the strikeouts are up, but with the type of player that he is, the strikeouts are going to be up.

He's going to be swinging for the fences because that's what he does.

But guess what?

This year we saw he added to his repertoire.

This is what I expect from you, Josh.

He's able to hit a single.

This is what I expect from Josh now.

This is the supporting me.

Thank you.

All right.

Sorry.

But, yeah.

he's – strikeouts are part of today's baseball.

It's not just Cruz that's striking out, right?

It's nearly everybody in the game.

Sorry.

That's part of it.

so, I – God, he had the worst – him and Paul Skeets, the worst start to a season you can imagine.

Right?

Yeah.

All schemes couldn't get out of the first inning, and he couldn't get out of the first inning because Odeal Cruz dropped two sure outs.

So, we've come a long way, baby.

It's been a long season.

We should have known then.

That was, like, the most pirate-y way to start a season.

it's like, look, don't get ahead of yourselves.

And we couldn't help ourselves, but, yeah.

Right.

And you said it.

He stole his 29th base today.

He stole third base.

And then Brandon Lowe hits him in with a single.

And that's what we want to see.

This is what we want to see next year, next season, whatever you want to say.

Whenever it is.

95 RBI for Brandon Lowe.

This is the top half of the order you want to see.

You want to see Oneil Cruz.

You want to see Konnor Griffin, who, granted, didn't have the best day today.

Two hits?

Right.

He still had two hits, even though what he struck.

Oh, he only struck out once.

I thought he struck out twice.

That's my fault.

But, yeah.

You got Konnor Griffin with two hits.

You got Oneil Cruz with two hits.

You got Brandon Lowe with the power bat.

Granted, typically, he's in the two spot there.

And Bryan Reynolds is in the three spot.

But today, they switched it up.

And it still worked.

Right?

You got these guys at the top of the order that can just hit the ball.

Right.

Plain and simple.

And that's something we didn't see last year.

Saw a lot of it this year.

Haven't seen it for six full seasons.

Right.

we saw none of this offense.

And even, the offense definitely had its stretches where it was awful.

Right.

But by and large, again, most home runs they've ever hit at PNC Park.

Is it the most home runs that they've ever hit as a franchise?

I think this year.

I think it was the most in franchise history, yes.

Yeah.

again, that's stunning to me when you're thinking people like Ralph Kiner and Willie Stargell and Roberto Comete and Dave Parker and all these guys.

this team has done that.

I think they've, maybe the most runs scored.

Again, it's been a very good offensive season.

And we did not expect that.

We expected improvement last year.

But we thought we were going to be winning games three to two.

And, that four runs, that's the number.

Can we score four runs or more?

And, man, we were scoring, most of the season.

Sadly, when the bullpen got to be its worst, the offense also got to be its worst.

And that's the answer to your question.

Like, how are we not in the playoffs?

And then after that, what was that, the third inning, I believe, is when we've – the hitting died down after that.

Yeah.

It wasn't until the eighth that Ronny Simon came to the plate.

There's, I believe, one out.

Yes, one out.

He challenged his second pitch of the day and lost.

So he – Ronny Simon was responsible for the Pirates losing both challenges today.

But then he gets on base.

He walks.

He gets on.

He gets to third from a wild pitch.

Steals second and they botched the throw to second base and he gets to third.

And then here comes Spencer Horwitz, another guy who we're expecting to be one of those guys with a hot bat.

And earlier in the season, that's what he had.

I believe that was June when we were playing the Blue Jays.

Around that Blue Jays series was when his bat just started to pop off.

Yeah, he had a good start in the season.

Then the injury derailed him.

Right, so another guy to look out for next season, Spencer Horwitz hits him in, gets the sack fly.

We go up two to one.

Bryan Reynolds gets his pinch hit.

I was really – the storyline of the day, we brought it up a couple times, 99 home runs at PNC Park this season.

I was ready for Bryan Reynolds to get that 100th home run at PNC Park this year.

Unfortunately, he got four straight balls.

But that was the storyline today, and unfortunately they didn't deliver, but they did get the win.

So take what you can.

What do you think of Roddy Simon?

I think he's a good utility player.

I think, he gets decent hits.

Like, he's not going to be hitting for power, but he's the guy that you can bring him in a pinch, and he'll do something.

You know?

again, as a 26th man, I think he might be all right.

I agree.

But, the problem is we'll have three other people that are also 26 men.

But if he's playing in the Billy Cook role, and he come in, and I don't know if he's as – I'm sure he's not as good defensively as Billy Cook.

But he can certainly pinch run, which is what they use Cook for just about more than anything else.

He definitely got some speed.

he popped up a bunt today, but he can bunt for a base hit.

guys like that can have some value.

He's got a little versatility.

You know.

He's played almost every position on the Diamond in his career.

Like, he's – I believe he started out as an infielder, then he moved to the outfield, and it's like that's the type of guy that this team needs off the bench, right?

They need that Sean Rod, that Jay Hay type of player.

And Ronny Simon seems to fit the bill.

Well, you – right.

You especially need it with the way that Donnie manages.

Donnie pinch hits for people in the sixth inning, and you're like, oh, dude, we're going to need that bat.

he's coming up again.

that thing.

But he pinch hits early.

He takes some of his big hitters out, earlier in the game than most managers do.

So, if he's going to do that, right, you're going to need guys that can play, that can, that can get a hit.

You're going to need guys that have some versatility.

So, a guy like Simon could carve out a role for himself.

Yep.

He's definitely a guy that I think has proven himself in the short span that he's been on the team.

I wouldn't mind seeing Ronny Simon on the 2027 roster as that 26 man, like you said.

It's just – he has the versatility.

Simon's the new Ozuna when it comes to challenges.

Hey, he got on base.

He scored the winning run.

Yeah.

Can't be mad about it.

It's a win.

We're 500.

Yeah.

Right.

I said at the beginning of the show, the worst they can be is 500.

And they're finishing out of the Cardinals.

They're finishing out of the Cardinals, which is, I think, is the second time since the freak show year.

What was that, 96 or something?

Yeah.

So, that's just absurd.

that's not the Dodgers with a $300 million payroll.

That's a team that's, St. Louis, not exactly a thriving metropolis.

So, we should finish ahead of them more often.

Yeah.

Twice in 35 years or whatever.

Right.

I was going to say, last time they finished ahead of them was, what, three years ago?

Three years ago.

We were fourth and they were fifth.

And that wasn't us being so good.

It was them being so bad.

they just had a very uncharacteristic.

But, yeah.

Sorry.

Can you hear me, Doug?

I can hear you.

Perfect.

Okay.

I just fortunately got a FaceTime call in the middle of this.

I had to decline.

But, yeah.

This season, this is my last postgame show of the year, unfortunately.

It's our last show together.

I think I have one more.

It might be my last ever.

Who knows?

free agency, blockout.

Just to talk about this team as a whole, it's hard to say that this year wasn't a success, but it also hurts to say that it is.

it's very weird.

It's very conflicting.

Right.

If you look at it objectively, they've, they did better than they did last year.

But that's, last year is not the bar, right?

That's not the bar you're trying to surpass.

They themselves said playoffs, period, full stop.

They were very adamant about it.

They talked about it a lot.

And they didn't do it.

Ultimately, it is a failure.

Hamilton wants me to name a lunchbox player of the game.

I haven't done that since, like, March.

You haven't done that in a while.

But if I had to give one, if I had to give one, it's Ronny Simon.

He's the lunchbox player of the game.

But, yeah.

I agree with Ray.

Big improvement, but no playoffs failure.

And, Ed, what I said to you before we got on the air is that if this were any other team, right, you would say, okay, man, woo-hoo, we're finishing strong.

whatever.

Say they win two more games.

they finish over .500.

They finish third.

Now there's only two teams in front of the division.

We're going to make some additions in the offseason.

Boom, we're going to be ready to go.

But we're the Pittsburgh Pirates of Ben Cherington and Bob Nutting.

I'm not so sure we're going to make additions.

I could see them standing pat in a lot of ways and, of course, not re-signing Brandon Lowe.

that's a lot of home runs.

That's a presence in the lineup.

It's a presence in the locker room.

so it's like, there's – I don't feel good enough about this team to think that it's going to roll into next season, right?

Because I don't know what they're going to do.

And, their track record has been, pretty spotty at best.

So, but yeah, like I said, if this was – if we were, the Chicago White Sox or something and they had this year, basically, you just say, all right, man, we're moving forward.

It's – this is progress.

We're going in the right direction.

I'll embrace it and, we'll be ready for next season.

But, with the – we've been challenging about that, I'm not that enthused.

And I feel like my thought process is not – it's not a popular one.

Like, it almost goes against everything you just said.

Like, I do expect them to move – like, add on to this.

This was a stepping stone.

And it sucks that year seven is just a stepping stone.

But everything that's happened and the way the team is set up, the way that the farm system is set up, the guys that you have in this organization, it feels like it's finally in a spot where this team will be sustainable for the next three to four years with the talent that's in the organization and the ability to add on.

The way I've looked at this is you've got a lot of young talent in this organization that's MLB ready that you're not going to have to spend too much in the offseason.

That's – it feels like that's what they're trying to do is have all these guys on rookie deals, don't have to pay ARB until three years in.

And then have as many guys like that, like the Murph Grays, the Connor Griffins, which Konnor Griffin they did give a deal to, which is understandable.

But there's Merlin Valdezes, even Paul Skenes, who is going to have arbitration in the offseason.

But then you've got like Jared Jones.

You've got all these guys who are on their first contracts in Major League Baseball.

And it's saving this organization money because that's how we have to think as Pirates fans is how are they saving money to go out and get people?

This is how I see them doing it.

They're drafting high-quality guys in the draft that can come into the majors two to three years after they were drafted.

They want to make that process faster, and they're drafting guys that's possible with.

Because I expect Murf Gray to be our starting third baseman in 2027 or the next season that there is.

He's just proved – like he nearly blew Konnor Griffin's season last year out of the water.

Like, you look at the numbers, and he just is an offensive machine.

Granted, I'm not sure what the defense looks like.

But offensively, at the third base spot, you can't do too worse than Nick Gonzales at third base defensively.

Yeah, I would imagine that just about anybody will be an improvement defensively.

If you can somehow have Nick Gonzales's offense and Murf Gray's offense on the same Major League field on your team, I think you're going to succeed.

And that's – like I've told you, I feel like I've Stockholm Syndrome myself into this and into keeping everybody.

Either that or – It feels like it was just a long process that's finally seeing results.

You can throw tomatoes at me.

You can boo me.

You can say whatever you want.

It just feels that way.

And trust me, I don't want to see these guys back, but it feels like what they're doing is finally – you're finally seeing the fruits of their labor.

Well, sure, but when they don't re-sign Brandon Lowe and just slide – Right, that's going to be the tipping point.

Right.

I'm going to – right.

And then they just slide Nick to second base.

Right.

What are they going to do to replace all of that production plus his presence in the community, the Roberto Clemente Award winner for the Pirates, and his locker room presence, right?

See, that's my concern.

My concern is they're not – again, the surest thing of all these – I'm not sure that Flores will repeat what he did this year and that he'll do it for a whole season.

I don't know what Valdez is going to be.

I feel pretty good about our young pitching.

I feel pretty good about the back end of the bullpen.

But, again, you don't know.

I was certain that Paul Skenes was going to contend for the Cy Young this year, and he did not.

So I can't be certain about Jared Jones, Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft, anybody.

Don't know what they're going to do at the fifth starter.

And I know we're a post-game show, and I'm probably ranting on – but I just – it's hard to believe in – they've done – look, this is the best season they've ever had.

Ben Cherington's got some big wins this year, some big wins, right?

The loud trade, obviously, was just lights out.

But acquiring some – Ryan O'Hearn, the success of Conor, the success of Valdez and Flores, the breakout of Nick Gonzales.

he's got a bunch of feathers in his cap this year.

But the Pittsburgh Pirates are never his priority.

It's always the minors.

It's always next year.

This current team – and that was exactly what doomed us this year because he was less concerned with fixing the bullpen than he was, preparing for the draft or whatever else he was doing.

And it sunk the team.

It sunk – the team deserved better.

And we deserve better as fans.

And I just don't have a lot – I hope – I hope – I hope that they just shock us all and in a week they say we've extended.

we – Right.

And that's – yeah.

That's the thing is it's like seven years is a long time to wait for just what we've gotten this year.

like I get that.

Patience is thin.

My patience is thin, but I love the Pittsburgh Pirates and I want to believe that they are going to want to win.

And granted, they haven't really shown that much in the last seven years, but what happened this year just feels like undoubtedly you have to.

You have to try and win next year.

And to do that, you have to re-sign Brandon Lowe.

I know I've – in the past two post-game shows I was on, I think I said Brandon Lowe is already a Yankee.

But I think a lot of people online have started to convince me that this might be a thing.

They might just go out there and shock me and re-sign a guy like Brandon Lowe.

But anyway, I think these people are ready.

Our big dogs talked about it.

there's ways that they – there's moves that they could make that they could afford Brandon Lowe.

So we'll wait and see.

But you're right.

They've listened to us pontificate about an off-season instead of a post-game.

Let's give them sandwiches.

Hey, we talked about a post-game for like 25 minutes.

We can talk about the future for 10.

It's all good.

But anyway, we got 73 entries with your hashtag Raisits for your free Permianty Brothers sandwiches.

Doug, without further ado, let's draw some names.

You got to like.

You can't win if you don't like it.

Like the video.

Them's the rules.

Like the show.

Keep checking out our app.

Donato keeps adding stuff.

Yeah.

Stanley Yip, congratulations on your two sandwiches.

Doug, let the people know how they can get their sandwiches.

They've got to email their information for Primanti Brothers, our Primanti Brothers account, to Northshore9, N-I-N-E.

Spell out the number, please.

And we'll get you your sandwiches.

We have Guardian Prinny.

Congratulations, folks, on your two sandwiches each.

Hopefully, we got three more days.

What would that be?

Three times four.

That's 12 sandwiches.

Hopefully, we give away 12 more sandwiches, Doug.

12 more sandwiches.

That would be great.

That would be phenomenal.

Cody, I want to bet on tonight's football game.

You do.

You do.

Yes.

Well, I'll tell you where to do it.

You should do it on FanDuel.

Now, let's look at the lines tonight, Doug.

I know it's football season.

Not a lot of people are interested in baseball anymore until October starts.

So, tonight, we got the Atlanta Falcons versus the Green Bay Packers.

The Steelers beat the Falcons not too long ago.

And then they looked like crap against New England.

They look like crap beating the Falcons, too.

Let's not get up to that.

You're not wrong.

They won.

They won.

But, whew.

Atlanta is bad.

You, me, and nine other guys, I think, could take on the Falcons.

Right.

Tonight, the money line, Falcons plus 210 as the underdog.

Packers minus 255.

Over, under, 43 and a half.

I know I'll be betting on this game.

I don't know how I'm going to bet on it because it's two not very good teams.

That sounds like an under game there.

It feels like it.

It's a game, Doug.

Anyway, folks, if you're going to bet on FanDuel.

No pressure.

Never pressure to go bet on sports.

Oh, gosh.

Gamble responsibly, please.

Gamble responsibly, but that's what we'll be doing tonight, Doug and I.

So, anyway, Doug, let's get out of here.

We talked enough.

Yay, Cody's last game.

Great job all season, Cody.

Thank you, thank you.

And he does so much more behind the scenes, as he said, as he's the one getting all those two clips.

So much more and still not enough.

That's for a group chat, buddy.

But all right, folks.

Thank you for joining us.

This has been the NS9 postgame show, powered by Primanti Brothers, the North Shore Nine podcast, presented by FanDuel.

We'll see you folks later.

Tonight, I think NS9 Live, right?

I'm sure.

Got to be.

It's got to be the 3.

We're out of here.

It's got to be the 3 tonight.

I'll be back Saturday.

We'll be back Friday.

So, there you go.

All right, that wraps up this episode of North Shore Nine.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

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