The Pirates are rolling, folks. After today's 13-2 demolition of the San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh enters the All-Star break a game in front in the NL Central with a 48-37 record. It's been a long time (20 years) since the Buccos were 11-games over the .500 mark at any point in the season, let alone the All-Star break.
Long-suffering Pirates fans have a reason to puff out their chests for a change, and if things keep going the way have since about mid-May, we might see a good old-fashioned pennant race in August and September. We haven't had that around here since 1997, and if you take that "Freak Show" team out of the equation, we haven't had a serious baseball contender in Pittsburgh since the early 90's and the days of Barry Bonds, Andy Van Slyke and Doug Drabek.
Speaking of those three players who represented the last era of prosperity for the Pittsburgh Pirates, they were household names. Well, at least Barry Bonds was. He won his first two National League MVP awards while in Pittsburgh and was considered by many to be the best all-around player in the game.
The Pirates haven't had a player like him until, well, right about now. Andrew McCutchen just completed a first half that has baseball talking. Just look at these stats! Yahoo hasn't quite updated them yet, but I'll do it for them. After today's three hit performance that included two two-run homers, McCutchen now leads Major League Baseball with a .362 batting average, and he has 18 home runs and 60 RBI. Beings that he's leading baseball in hitting and on the cusp of the leader board in the other two categories, Cutch is not only a serious MVP candidate, we can start talking about the Triple Crown.
I think most smart baseball people thought McCutchen would be a decent all-around player as he came up through the Pirates minor league system after being drafted 11th overall in '05, but I don't think anyone could have envisioned what he's done so far this season.
If he's not the best player in baseball right now, I'd love to know who is. Every time he steps to the plate at PNC Park these days, the fans chant "MVP, MVP!" When was the last time Pirates faithful had such a player to cheer for? Again, it was Barry Bonds. Back then, if you were either at a Pirates game or watching one on television, you could hear the fans chant, "Barry! Barry!" Only thing was, Bonds never had much of a relationship with the fans during his time in Pittsburgh.
Andrew McCutchen, on the other hand, appears to be a great guy to root for, and he could be the superstar that finally catapults the Pirates back into relevancy after nearly two decades. He has the humble personality, and with the dread-locks, he has a very unique look.
It's just a matter of time before McCutchen becomes a household name, not just in Pittsburgh, but all around the country. He doesn't play in a big market city like New York or Boston, but if he continues to display the all-around tools that he's shown since his rookie year, soon, he'll transcend all markets and be the best known commodity in MLB.
He'll certainly be the biggest thing in Pittsburgh since the days of Willie Stargell if the fans continue to embrace him.
If the Pirates are going to be a contender, they're going to need a superstar.
The world better soon be prepared for Andrew McCutchen!
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