Heading into the final series of the regular season, the Pirates record sits at 87-72, which is 1 game back of the 1st place St. Louis Cardinals.

Even though the Pirates have locked up their 2nd postseason season appearance in a row, they are still looking to catch up to the Cardinals so they won’t have to go up against the Giants in a 1 game wild card playoff.

The Pirates will have a tough task this weekend facing the Cincinnati Reds who are out of playoff contention, but still have a solid team heading into this weekend.

In game one tonight, Pirate pitcher Vance Worley (8-4, 2.93 ERA) will go up against Reds Pitcher Mike Leake (11-13, 3.78 ERA).

Worley has been a solid pitcher for the Pirates this season after dominating down in triple-a Indianapolis and has filled in nicely for injured pitcher Charlie Morton all season. He also received a spot start last Sunday, and dominated going 8 strong innings, 5 hits,

Leake has been solid all year, but in his last start he only went 5 innings giving up 5 earned runs.

The other two games of the series will feature Francisco Liriano vs. Alfredo Simon and Gerrit Cole vs. Johnny Cueto.

The Pirates current rotation for the Reds series may change if the Cardinals clinch the division.

The Cardinals will be taking on the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend on the road.