Pirates find 'more satisfaction than motivation' in serving as spoiler for foes in playoff race

That the Pittsburgh Pirates are 31 games out of first place in the NL Central and 23¹⁄₂ games back from wild card contention hasn’t stopped them from paying attention to the playoff race.

Even though the Pirates (47-83) have no realistic shot at making the postseason, they know that they can factor into the playoff positioning because four of their eight opponents over the final 10 series are still fighting for a berth.

Pirates catcher Jacob Stallings admitted to checking the standings after the 11-7 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night at PNC Park, when they rallied for eight runs in the seventh inning.

“I would say — at least for me personally — it’s more satisfaction after we beat them than it is motivation prior to,” Stallings said. “It was fun to come back last night and be able to look at the standings and see that we pushed the Cardinals a game back. Or whoever it is, really. It doesn’t really matter, but I think more satisfaction than motivation for me personally anyway.”

The Pirates are showing the same reluctance to speak about their chance to serve as a “spoiler” over the final five weeks of the season as they were to talk about enduring a “rebuild” at the beginning.

“We play some teams that are in playoff hunts,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “I don’t know if you want to use the term ‘spoiler’ or whatever, but we have the ability to impact some people’s season if we continue to play well and play hard.”

The Cardinals are 3¹⁄₂ games back in the wild-card race after Sunday’s game against the Pirates, who next pay a visit to the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox for two games. The Pirates also will play three series against the Cincinnati Reds, who are in second place in the NL Central and have a 1 1/2-game lead over San Diego for the second wild card spot, and a four-game series at the Philadelphia Phillies, who are 4 1/2 games back in the NL East and 4 behind in the wild card.

After losing 15 of 17 games to start August, the Pirates have won six of their past 11. Six trade deadline deals forced a major-league roster makeover, and the players know their jobs are on the line.

“In terms of focus, everybody is playing for something,” Stallings said. “Especially on our team, we don’t have many under-contract guys or veterans who know they’re going to have a job next year, frankly. Everybody has something to play for. All the personal goals, whenever you’re winning, a lot more of those goals are typically met. I think everybody has been having fun lately. Hopefully, we can keep playing well.”

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said the internal focus in September will be on building a culture within a young team with the “expectation that every game matters, every pitch matters, focus matters” through the completion of a six-month season.

Cherington called it both a chance and a challenge to do so.

“I haven’t heard the word ‘spoiler,’ but we do talk a lot about the importance of making these games matter,” Cherington said. “It gets back to how we’re preparing and expectations coming into the game and effort level during the game and, no matter what the outcome is, coming back and finding a way to do it again the next day. If we upset some other teams’ schedules in the process of that, great. We’d like to do that.”