The Pirates got a rude dose of reality this afternoon in Chicago as they fall to the Cubs 12-2. Despite being winners of 4 straight games and 5 straight series, the Pirates looked like a team that had just discovered the concept of baseball while the Cubs showed the colors of a true competitor. Only 1 inning of this game ended up being competitive, as the Cubs effortlessly broke the game open within the first hour of first pitch. the playoff odds keep shrinking, and the Bucs fall back to .500 after today. Watch Doug break down the game in detail here:

Shota Imanaga Continues to Destroy the Pirates

For one brief beautiful moment, it looked like the Pirates had finally gotten to Imanaga, who has been a thorn in the Pirates’ side for years now. Konnor Griffin and Oneil Cruz combined for 2 hits on 3 pitches and scored a run in the first. Everything fell apart afterwards, as the morons in New York wouldn’t call Cruz safe on a stolen base and the Pirates generated almost no threat after that first inning. Imanaga goes 6 innings and only allows 2 runs, yet another great start. It’s agonizing that a good start like this is the most successful the Pirates have ever been against him. Imanaga continues to twist the knife as he spurns the Pirates to sign in Chicago and seems to have taken the Pirates’ offer personally. It was always going to be hard to continue the streak of winning against the Cubs and Imanaga, and it was a brutal watch today.

It’s a Bad Day to Be a Rookie Pitcher

Wilber Dotel, Khristian Curtis, and Antwone Kelly were tasked with filling the Ashcraft-sized hole left in the rotation, and the rookie trio got shelled by the Cubs today. The Cubs are the highest-scoring team in the NL this season, so it does make sense, but you really would have liked to have seen more from guys competing for MLB roster spots. They were spotted for 12 earned runs, and none of them looked like they were close to confusing Cubs hitters over the course of the afternoon. The Cubs collected 16 hits and paraded around the bases all game, scoring in 5 separate innings. The Pirates need these guys to be better because pitching injuries are piling up and the rookies are the only reinforcements the team can muster up. It’s hard to be upset at any of them, but in order for the playoffs to happen, everyone needs to be performing at a top level, and today was the opposite.

The Margins Are Very Tight

Objectively, the Pirates have been winning lots of games, and a loss like today isn’t a big deal over the course of the whole season. However, the Pirates have now afforded themselves another 2-3 losses tops for the rest of the season. The team continues to stay in the 4.5-5 game range, and time is quickly running out. It’s hard to not feel like a loss here is the official nail in the Pirates’ coffin, because it would take a historic effort in order to make the playoffs at this rate. It would be even crazier than the 2007 Rockies or 2008 Rays, because they only have 2 weeks of games to make up a sizable difference. If the team takes the next 2 games, we can be having a different conversation going into the new week and series against the Brewers.