The Pirates placed Andrew McCutchen on the disabled list with an oblique injury. He’s likely to miss a month.

The bigger problem for the Pirates is how they would respond without their star. The team has been hot since June. They’re a game and a half back in the NL Central and half a game back from the second NL Wild Card spot. McCutchen has been Pittsburgh’s cornerstone again. He leads the NL in batting average, slugging percentage and RBIs since June 1, according to ESPN Stats & Info, and overall this season he’s hitting .311/.411/.536 this season with 17 homers and 67 RBIs.

In previous seasons, I would say the Pirates were finished, but the players around him are doing a much better job this season of getting on base. The are third in the league in runs scored per game at 4.22, and Andrew is not doing that on his own. With a 4.14 runs allowed per game, however, they don’t have to fall that far offensively to end up under .500. Andrew tends to carry this team, and it’s time for others to step up and fill in some of the loss.