The Pirates announce that they have reinstated Andrew McCutchen from the disabled list and optioned Michael Martinez to Indianapolis. McCutchen is in tonight's lineup, batting third in front of the newly-healthy Neil Walker; Starling Marte has moved back to left field. Finally, the Pirates' lineup looks as formidable as it ought to.
This is, obviously, welcome, and let's go further than that and put our black-and-gold-colored classes on. Despite the time he missed due to injury, McCutchen is currently third in the NL in WAR, behind Giancarlo Stanton and Clayton Kershaw. The Pirates are in the midst of a six-game losing streak. Let's say McCutchen returns tonight, goes nuts for the next ten days, and rights the ship, and the Pirates make the playoffs. That's all the narrative he'll need to win another MVP award. The Pirates' current streak is pretty bad, but maybe it's just a prelude to something spectacular.