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The vibe around the Pirates going into Wednesday’s wildcard game is this:

They’re built to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in a five game series in the divisional round but not equipped to beat Jake Arrieta and the Cubs Wednesday night.

If the Pirates can find a way to get past Arrieta, they have as good of a chance as anybody to represent the National League in the World Series.

And the same argument can be made with the Cubs. If they get past the Pirates it’s easy to picture them getting by the Cardinals and Dodgers/or Mets in the Championship series.

Last year the representatives in the World Series were both teams who came out of the Wild Card game.

For the Pirates hope of being the first team in months to put a dent into Arrieta, they continue to bank on they’ve seen him enough that it’s going to be an advantage on Wednesday night.

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BENCH PLAYERS VS ARRIETA

Josh Harrison, 1-10

Michael Morse, 2-9, 2B

Travis Snider, 1-5

Sean Rodriguez, 0-0