When I heard that Pirates legend, Andrew McCutchen, drove a ball off the right-field wall and managed to leg it into a triple in the bottom of the third inning of what would be a 4-3 victory over Tampa at PNC Park on Saturday afternoon, I got super excited.

I found the highlights on social media and, sure enough, I marked out (as they say in wrestling). There’s just something about watching Cutch turn on the jets as he rounds second and heads to third base. As a long-time Steelers fan, it reminded me of the warm fuzzies I always felt when watching running back Jerome Bettis score a touchdown. Sure, it was sweet seeing any running back find the end zone, but it was extra special with the Bus, especially in the 2000s, as he neared the end of his Hall of Fame career.

What a clutch player the 37-year-old Cutch is. Not only did McCutchen’s triple lead to the go-ahead run, but it happened on his bobblehead day. That’s right, McCutchen, who re-upped with the Pirates for the 2024 campaign after making his celebrated return to Pittsburgh a season ago, is closer to 40 than he is to 30. He’s also worlds away from the MVP-level player he was in 2014 when he hit an inside-the-park home run against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. But he can still deliver for his original and current team.

Make no mistake,  McCutchen has delivered for his current team. Yes, it may have seemed like a public relations move to re-sign him last year, but the Pirates insisted that it was a baseball transaction and their newly minted icon proved them right. Playing mostly as a designated hitter, McCutchen cranked out exactly 100 hits in 390 at-bats in 2023. Still a disciplined batting eye, McCutchen had a .378 on-base percentage and enough oomph in his Louisville Slugger to hit 12 home runs, while posting a .776 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) and driving in 43 runs.

McCutchen managed to collect his 2000th career hit a year ago and finished the season with 299 home runs.

What about this year? Not only did Cutch finally collect his 300th home run, but he’s hit nine more and is tied for second on the team with 10. And with 240 at-bats, McCutchen is among the team leaders in that category and is giving Bryan Reynolds a run for his money with a .740 OPS.

Is it a sad commentary on the Pirates’ offense that no regular starter has an OPS above .800? Yes, but that’s not McCutchen’s fault. Any team would take the veteran contributions that McCutchen has made during his second stint in Pittsburgh.

It really would be amazing to see this Pirates team put it all together and go on a roll. Can you imagine McCutchen being a part of another Buctober nearly a decade after his prime years?

If 37-year-old Andrew McCutchen is still clutch enough to give the people a triple on his bobblehead day, imagine what he’d give them on a Buctober evening?