Please stop predicting a collapse

Stop it. Please. Cut it out. Some of us don't cry ourselves to sleep at night, or worry about monsters under the bed, and those of you who do are really ruining the mood here.

Stop predicting a collapse. Not because a collapse won't happen. Maybe it will. Who knows! But certain Pirates fans have been predicting a collapse after every loss for the past three months, and they've been wrong every single time. A Pirates season isn't required to have a collapse, despite what the last two years might have led you to believe, and even if a collapse were somehow inevitable, Pirates fans seem to be terrible at predicting its timing.

Let's take a look at Twitter, shall we? I'll leave out names, but here's some of what's floated through my feed in the past 12 hours. (A couple of these were sent to me; a couple come from the new Best Fans Pittsburgh account.)

Losing a series to a bad team (even on the road) before the Cards series is concerning.

Just like the Pirates did right before the last Cardinals series, you mean? When they dropped a road series to the Marlins right before taking four of five from the Cards? What was that, two whole weeks ago?

To the credit of the guy who wrote this, he contacted me again to say he was probably being unreasonable and that he was just worried that this season was a dream and he was going to wake up at some point. That's a feeling a lot of us can relate to, I think.

Hope just coincidence but '12 collapse began in eerily similar way: uncharacteristic losses Aug 9-10 to NLWest teams. Justsayin'

I'm inclined to cut this guy some slack, because when someone ends a comment with "just saying" (or, I guess, "justsayin'"), they're usually at least somewhat aware that what they've said doesn't make sense. But let's unpack this anyway. What could the precise date of August 9 have to do with anything? Is that when the Pirates have their annual Tee Ball & E Coli Barbecue charity event? Or is that when the Bucs bring in the St. Louis hypnotist to give a motivational speech? Maybe the Pirates should stop doing those things!

What could the fact that the Rockies are an NL West team possibly have to do with the timing of the collapse? Someone please explain the causation there, because I've got nothing.

Jesus losing series to THE ROCKIES!!! Those are the type of things that start a collapse!

The Pirates have already lost series to the Cubs, Brewers, Nationals and Phillies this season. They lost a series to the Marlins two weeks ago. But the Rockies?!?! Sound the alarm!

Will Andrew Lambo get the call? I doubt it. Cuz we suck.

70-46. Yeah. Terrible.

Again: Maybe a collapse, or someone's idea of a collapse, will happen at some point. Unlike some people, I don't claim to know how a handful of baseball games might go. But for pete's sake. Pirates fans have been screaming like banshees about a collapse for the whole summer, and they've been wrong, wrong, wrong. And yet they continue to do it. Losing a series to the Rockies doesn't mean a collapse is on the way. It's just one result in a short series, and even in a great season, there will probably be a few series losses to bad teams. If you're unable to appreciate that, maybe baseball isn't the sport for you.