Hey guys, welcome to double shot of pirates.

I'm Dan Kovach, which of D.K. Pittsburgh Sports.

Pirates are back home preparing to take on the Cardinals for four straight. And it's part of a run in which they're

going to face 10 straight Central Division opponents. That sort of thing used to happen like a lot

with the more imbalanced schedule. But whenever Major League Baseball went to spreading

everybody, getting everybody involved, all the American League teams at least once and so forth,

that changed. And it's the only time it happens all year, believe it or not. Now, I don't mean to look down my nose at the

teams that are off the good starts, but I'm going to actually kind of do because the

Reds are 18 and 10 and they're phonier than a $2 bill. Wait, actually there are $2 bills.

Okay, they're phonier than a $2 bill. Wait, actually there are $2 bills. Okay, they're phonier than a $3 bill.

And the Cardinals are 14 and 13.

They're technically in last place, but that's way better than most people thought they'd be.

They have a really bad run differential.

Point is, between taking two out of three from the Brewers in Milwaukee of all

places and now facing these guys, these two teams, you have a chance to make some hay.

You have a chance to get some stuff done. These games do matter more than the other games.

Still, even though it's not as enormous as it used to be whenever you

were facing your divisional opponents 15, 18 even times a year, it means a lot and doubly so

if it's against the Brewers and or Cubs. My belief has been all along that the Cubs would end up being the class of the division.

I know nobody wants to hear that.

Then just now they rattled off 10 wins in a row before losing the last couple at Dodger Stadium.

My belief is that the brewers are run by the smartest people in baseball,

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