Pittsburgh Pirates Mathematically Eliminated From Playoff Contention After Cubs Win
The Pittsburgh Pirates woke up Saturday morning and they technically still had a chance to make the MLB postseason.
Before they even took the field for their game against the Cincinnati Reds, those hopes were dashed.
The Pirates were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention Saturday, according to Talkin' Baseball and SB Nation's Bucs Dugout. The Chicago Cubs' win over the Colorado Rockies earlier in the afternoon made it impossible for Pittsburgh to storm back and take any of the three NL Wild Card spots.
At 73-81, the Pirates are 7.5 games behind the Cubs with eight games left on the slate. But since Chicago won the season series 10-3, Pittsburgh would lose the tiebreaker in the event of a miraculous late-season run regardless.
The Pirates were likely only a few hours from getting eliminated anyways, considering they currently trail the Reds 9-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning.
There have now been five teams eliminated in the last three days, as the Boston Red Sox were officially knocked out on Thursday. The New York Mets, Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians, on the other hand, were eliminated Friday.
The New York Yankees are likely to be the next team to see their playoff chances cut to zero. From there, the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres would be the only remaining teams with between a 0.1% and 2.0% chance of making the playoffs, per FanGraphs.
Six playoff spots have already been clinched, leaving six more up for grabs for the nine teams that hold realistic odds of snagging them.
The Pirates are not one of those teams, and they have a week left on the schedule before they can officially set their sights on 2024.
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