NL Weekly Report: Pittsburgh Pirates Join National Heat Wave

Amidst a mid-July that has much of American submerged in record heat, the Pittsburgh Pirates are only serving to turn up the temperatures further, ripping off a hot streak that’s moved them to the top of the National League Central as the franchise looks for its first winning season since 1992—also the last time they made the playoffs, as the “Buccos” as they’re called down on the banks of the Allegheny where I once worked the produce yards, have never made the postseason in the post-realignment era begun in 1994 with the creation of the NL Central.