It's been 21 years since the Pittsburgh Pirates have played meaningful baseball in late September and early October. Thanks to wrapping up their first winning regular season since 1992, the Pirates are headed back to the postseason for the first time since that thrilling campaign. Dropping Game 7 of the National League Championship Series to the Atlanta Braves in '92, Pittsburgh hoped to continue on the path of excellence in the years to follow but despite the support of a devoted fan base and talented teams, the Pirates were never able to recapture the magic from the 1992 season.
From 1990 to 1992, the Pirates advanced to league championship series 3 times. Falling to the Cincinnati Reds in 1990 and the Braves the next 2 seasons, the Pirates were on the cusp of greatness but were never able to reach the Promised Land. Enduring 21-consecutive losing seasons following the 1992 campaign, Pittsburgh Pirates fans finally have something to look forward to thanks to an extremely talented 2013 squad. With reliable pitching from top to bottom and an extremely capable line-up, manager Clint Hurdle and the Pirates are back in the postseason on the strength of a 94-win season.
Set to host the Cincinnati Reds in the 2013 National League Wild Card Game, the Pittsburgh Pirates are obviously excited to be back in the playoffs and even though a tough test lies ahead in the form of NL Central rival Cincinnati, Clint Hurdle knows his team has the goods to make a deep run.
"I like the grit factor and the lessons we've learned," Hurdle said recently. I think we're a perfect snapshot of our city. We're not perfect. We get down, we're going to get up. We get knocked down again, we're going to get up again. We'll continue to fight for what we believe in, to win a sixth World Series."
Facing a team that outscored them 16-6 in a season-ending sweep, Reds manager Dusty Baker hopes his guys are able to forget what happened down the stretch - Cincinnati's losing of five-straight games - and just get back to basics. If they're able to do those things, Baker believes his team will persevere and regain their confidence.
"You have to block it out," Baker said of the losing streak. "It's a situation where it's a new season. What you did previously doesn't matter. What you didn't do previously doesn't matter. Now you start the season all over. It's not flipping a switch. It ain't that easy. It's not about flipping a switch. It's about staying after it and staying after it. You know, perseverance is the key. That's the whole thing. You persevere and then you'll be successful. A lot of times you'll be down and out. The next thing you know, boom!, for no particular reason, things start going your way. I'm very confident these guys will rebound."
Cincinnati Reds at Pittsburgh Pirates DATE, TIME & TV INFO
DATE: Tuesday, October 1
TIME: 8:00pm, ET
TV COVERAGE: TBS
LIVE STREAM: CLICK HERE
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