While researching something else this week, the solution for the 2016 Pirates virtually blasted out of cyberspace at me; if they want to overtake the Chicago Cubs and win the National League Central Division, all they need is for Andrew McCutchen to go on a 56-game hitting streak.
You’re welcome.
It worked 75 years ago this summer, and there’s zero evidence it wouldn’t work again, largely because no one has even come close to doing what Joe DiMaggio nailed onto the game’s widely acknowledged list of unbreakable records in 1941.
It was, in fact, 75 years ago today, July 17, 1941, that Joltin’ Joe went 0 for 3 with a walk at Cleveland, ending the streak and yet all but securing the American League pennant for the Yankees.