Once the bottom feeders in the National League Central Division, The Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates have risen as the top dogs in the division. With this rise has come a rivalry that has been built on developing players throughout the minor league system.
It was the 2009 season and the Pirates currently sat at 62-99 and had one more game left to play, a postponed game against the Chicago Cubs. However, Major League Baseball decided not to play the game since both teams were out of the playoff race and had no chance of moving forward with the win.
While that decision probably saved the Pirates from their first 100 lost season since 2001, it is a decision that would never be made in today's game. The Pirates and Cubs currently occupy the first and second place spots in the National League Central and, with the St. Louis Cardinals struggling right now, could run away with the division.
This transformation did not happen overnight, however. From the 2010-2013 seasons the Pirates and Cubs were the last two teams in the NL Central consistently ending the season under a .500 winning percentage. Both teams endured droughts that seemed to last forever. The Pirates dealt with 20 consecutive losing seasons before breaking out in 2014, and the Cubs are still currently in the midst of a 97 year drought where they have not made the world series.
Both fan bases have suffered through some bad baseball and some bad players and some sloppy baseball in their recent history. Whether it was Starling Castro being called out for being lazy or the awful play of Ronny Paulino behind the plate, both fan bases know what it is like to watch a losing baseball team take the field day in and day out.
Last season saw the rise of so many great players out of the Cubs farm system including Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, and Kyle Schwarber and that has lead to the Cubs current success this season. They sit on top of the NL Central with a record of 18-6. The Pirates started their rise much in the same way with the emergence of guys like Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco to help create what has been considered a worst to first Cinderella story in baseball.
Looking at the current rosters for both teams, the Pirates have nine home grown players that anchor the team and the Cubs have seven. Each of these players have played a significant role on their clubs and has allowed this once battle of bottom feeders to blossom into a battle of MLB titans looking for supremacy.
You cant think of the Pittsburgh Pirates without thinking of their center fielder Andrew McCutchen. Since his call-up to the big leagues in 2009 he has been the face of the Pirates and the anchor of this team. Since joining the Pirates, he is a career .296 hitter with 157 home runs and 570 RBI. While known for his slow starts, he has consistently lead the Pirates in all major offensive categories during his time with the team.
The five-time all-star and four-time silver slugger winner has seen both the good and the bad times of this team and has been an instrumental part to their turn-around. The Pirates have gotten better each season that McCutchen has been on the team going from a team that finished 62-99 to last year where they finished 98-64.
McCutchen has also been a life saver on defense patrolling center field and catching almost every fly ball that was hit his way. The 2012 Gold Glove winner owns a career .988 fielding percentage only committing only 29 errors in just under 10,000 innings played. McCutchen can do it all both in the field and at the plate and has been the biggest part to the Pirates turn-around.
On the Cubs side, the turn around started with first baseman Anthony Rizzo who got his call to the major leagues in 2011. Since coming up, he has provided power and clutch hitting to the Cubs lineup. He has hit 15 home runs or more in each of the last four seasons including back-to-back 30 home run seasons in 2014 and 2015.
Rizzo is a career .259 hitter with 110 home runs and 341 RBI in five major league seasons. Rizzo has brought a fire to the Chicago Cubs and challenges his team to perform everyday. He has also opened the door for other Cubs rookies to have success by creating protection in the middle of the Cubs lineup. Opposing Pitchers would not want to pitch to Rizzo so they threw better pitches to hit to guys like Bryant and Schwarber.
Rizzo is no slouch on defense either as he owns a .994 career fielding percentage committing 31 errors in 5541 innings played at first base. Not much gets by Rizzo as he has the ability to get to a lot of the balls that are hit his way and he has robbed many hits from many players. Both Rizzo and McCutchen are examples of what great home grown talent can do for a team.
This Pirates-Cubs rivalry really got its start last season during the three-team race for NL Central supremacy as the Cubs, Cardinals, and Pirates were battling for the top spot in the division. The rivalry came to its height during last seasons NL Wildcard game between the Cubs and Pirates that included a benches clearing brawl.
The rivalry is still very evident between these two teams as last night Starling Marte was hit in the arm followed by Ben Zobrist being hit in the back. As a result, both benches were warned and Cubs manager Joe Maddon was seen yelling to Kyle Lobstein and Francsico Cervelli on the field. Now that these two teams are the top dogs in the NL Central, we will see just how much this rivalry can grow over the next couple seasons.
The rivalry continues tonight as the Pirates an Cubs play game two of a three game sereis at PNC Park. For the Cubs, it will be right hander Jake Arietta (5-0 1.00) on the hill coming off of a 5.0 inning one run start against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Pirates will oppose with Jon Niese (3-0 5.08) who is coming off of a decent start in Colorado where he gave up five runs over 5.0 innings of work. First pitch for tonight's game is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
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