What if we told you in the offseason that going into the break the Pirates would be 2.5 games out of 1st place? Well we answer that for you, though it may not be as glorious of an answer as it was in 2015.

Also, we thank everyone again for their contribution to the NS9 Pirates Charities Backpack Raffle where we collected $2,250 and were able to raffle off 9 backpacks. We also talk about the revamping of our Patreon where you can help support us while getting some pretty cool things in return.

Onto more baseball...The Pirates hammered the Brewers & Cubs this past week and have played very well since June and this rough stretch vs teams above .500 (and likely with higher run differentials and Ivan Nova's pitching for them). What does this mean for the club and should they be buyers or sellers if the trade deadline were today?

Josh Bell and Felipe Vazquez will be heading to Cleveland to partake in the All Star game, while Josh Bell will also be part of the Home Run Derby. Ryan & DiNardo give their predictions on the event.

Francisco Cervelli has announced that he will no longer play catcher in his MLB career. As we all know the person comes before the player (and this is a very wise move for Cervelli's health concerns) what does this mean for the Pirates? Where is Cervelli's place on this team going forward and what does it mean to the current players on the 25 man right now?

Are the Wolves of Federal Street back? The bullpen has been pitching better lately, but we aren't certain it's at the level we all expected them to be at. Who has surprisingly been much better lately? Worse? We will tell you what we can likely expect from this unit going forward and if there is any more help on the way.

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