When the Cardinals last saw the Pirates, the Pirates swept them. The Pirates outscored the Cardinals by just four runs, winning two one-run games. Back then, the Pirates still had a winning record and the Cardinals still had hope. I suppose the Pirates also had hope then, although I’m not sure how many Pirates fans believed in their start. Now both the Pirates and Cardinals face each other with an identical number of wins (55) and the Cardinals with one more loss).
Enough time has passed that both teams are fairly different. Offensively, things are mostly the same for the Pirates.