For just 50 cents a month, less than the price of a cup of coffee, you can save a child or save the earth ... or save something, according to a TV commercial.
For just one more win a month, the Pirates could have been a playoff team, according to Neal Huntington. If they had won two more games per month, the Pirates could have contended for a division title.
That is what the general manager told reporters before Sunday's home finale against the Brewers.
The Pirates entered the day with a record of 78-75 with eight games to play. They sat 11.5 games out of first in the NL Central and seven games out of the final wildcard spot.
With a loss and a Cardinals win over the Giants, the Pirates faced playoff elimination. But if they can finish the season above .500, it would be the first time that the Pirates have had a winning record in a non-playoff year since 1988.
Huntington believes the Pirates, who will miss postseason play for the third straight season, are making strides and should continue to do so in large part due to the off-season trades of Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole.
"That was the intent behind the offseason trades and the in-season trades to put ourselves back into a position to compete for a World Series, but to be able to do it for a longer period of time and not put our eggs in one basket for one year," Huntington said. "That was, again, the intent behind the McCutchen (and) Cole trades: to add talent but also to add talent for multiple years of impact. The (Chris) Archer and (Keone) Kela trades add talent not only for '18 but, in Archer's case, for three more years which is much longer than we would have had Gerrit and in McCutchen's case, he was leaving via free agency after this year, where Kyle Crick will be here for years to come and when we got Bryan Reynolds, in our minds, one of the best outfield prospects in baseball, (Joe) Musgrove and (Colin) Moran ... they have played a meaningful role on a club that is one win a month away from being a postseason team.
"That's how close we are. One win a month. We figure out how to win one game a month more and we're in a very different spot as we finish this season. We win two games a month more and we're fighting for a division which is ultimately where we want to be because that best positions you to win a World Series."
So, what gets you that one win?
"It's a good question," he continued. "I wish there were one central answer. It's me being better. It's our coaching staff being better. It's each individual player driving to get better. It's the maturation of a young team. Again, there's a lot of players in their first, second and even third full big league seasons. Our veterans aren't tenured veterans, they're six-year veterans or seven-year veterans. There's a lot of room for improvement.
"You go around the offense and just about every spot, except maybe catcher, there's rational reasonable belief that we can be better each one of those spots. Will we be? Well, that' s the goal. There's rational reasons to think our starting rotation can continue to be really good, our backend bullpen can continue to be really good. As a collective, individually, some guys may ebb and flow but who do we have ready to step in? Who do we complement, supplement this group? But if each one of us finds a way to get a little bit better collectively, we'll be a whole lot better."