Game Five in St. Louis: Pirates vs. Cardinals

They don’t get much bigger than this one tonight. The classic David vs. Goliath story: the over-achieve Pirates who haven’t been here in 20+ years against the team that has seemingly been here dozens of times it seems like in recent history.

I’m giving the Pirates way more of a chance to win this one than the rest of the general public is. They have a shot, based on the fact that I think they’re a scrappy bunch that has responded and risen to the occasion all year long when they were counted out by others and Cole is an electric arm that could do exactly what Michael Wacha did in game four. You build a small lead, let Cole shove off for seven or eight inning and ask the bullpen for six or less outs; there just isn’t much St. Louis can do.

St. Louis as an organization and Adam Wainwright especially has been here so many times it seems almost inconceivable that anyone in their right mind would pick the Pirates to advance to the NLCS. If they do, we’ve got a good surprise for you readers. If not, it was a hell of a season for the Buccos.

But I can assure you – the guys in that Pirate dugout under Clint Hurdle are not scared. They think they’re going to win tonight. They believe they’re the better team and they’ve been given this hope because they’ve beaten the Cardinals in 2013 enough times to know that this is a true coin-flip game.

This is going to be a tremendous game.