The Pittsburgh Pirates are Baseball’s Latest and Greatest Cinderella Story

buccos

[Box Score – Game One]
[Box Score – Game Two]

What’s going on in Pittsburgh right now is pretty special.

They welcomed Goliath to their home park in Pittsburgh this week, kicking off a five game series with the St. Louis Cardinals with a 9-2 win on Monday night.

Yesterday, the Pirates swept a doubleheader from the mighty Cardinals in what might have been the finest day in Pittsburgh baseball in more than two decades. My guy who grew up in Pittsburgh says he makes calls back home and the city is buzzing like it’s 1979. I believe him.

Yesterday had a little bit of everything. The Pirates won the first game of the twinbill 2-1 in 11 innings around the time that most of us were getting home from work. Alex Presley singled off the pitcher’s mitt and wiley veteran Russell Martin scampered home to give the Pirates a very Cardinals-like win.

In game two, it was the crowning game of Pittsburgh baseball this season. The man I consider the MVP of the National League as things sit, Andrew McCutchen; hit a two-run home run to seal things the way an MVP does. It was one of those moments; in front of a home crowd, where you just know that the moment will endure. People in Pittsburgh will remember this doubleheader sweep in this magical season and they’ll remember the day their best player had and the swing he had to put away Goliath.

And the Pirates two winning pitchers yesterday were guys named Vin Mazzaro and Brandon Cumpton. Tell me that’s not Cinderella. Cumpton was a guy who started his year in the minor leagues. He threw seven shutout innings to win his first game of the season. This is a team who has started the likes of Cumpton, Jeff Locke, and Jeanmar Gomez. Their ‘ace’ Francisco Liriano has an arm that was surgically put back together.

It’s just a bunch of guys playing hard and getting more value out of themselves then anyone had them getting before the season began. There have been some unlikely winning teams over the past few seasons. I would argue that the 2013 Pittsburgh Pirates are more fun than any of them.