And the Best Team in Baseball is--the Pittsburgh Pirates?

No, this is not fiction. There is no Fringe-like parallel universe that we have all  been thrown into. It is real. It is fact. It has happened.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have quietly become the best team in baseball.

It may be a little early to call this their year, but after two decades of losing it is understandable why fans are getting so excited about their club. With a 2-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers Saturday the Pirates became the first team in baseball this season to reach 50 wins.

So yes, with the best record in baseball that makes them the best team (for now).

"People are dusting off their Pirates shirts and coming out in droves, and we're trying to give them what they want to see," closer Jason Grilli after notching the save Saturday night.

Dust off is about right. The last winning season they had was back in 1992 a new young player named barry Bonds was the MVP and Jim Leyland was the Manager of the Year. Things went straight downhill after that culminating in the team winning just 57 games in 2010, tying a franchise low since the schedule expanded to 162 games.

Over the last couple seasons they crept closer and closer winning 72 and 79 games. Now this season they appear to have finally turned the corner. However, if they are going to win the division and have a shot at making some noise in the post season they are going to have to do something about their hitting.

With a team batting average of just .242 (No. 23 in the league) they will be hard pressed to take on one of the better teams in baseball in a best of seven series. It will help that they have the best ERA in the league (3.17), but one-sided teams typically don't make it very far in the playoffs.

[Offense like this will certainly go a long way!]