The Pittsburgh Pirates closed the 2014 season as one of the hottest teams in baseball. The San Francisco Giants ran hot and cold through much of the season but managed to hang on to a wild-card spot. They hope to draw upon their past postseason successes when they visit the Pirates on Wednesday.

Here are some of the key stats our broadcast crew will be talking about, with first pitch scheduled for 8:07 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN Radio.

Volquez among the best the past two months

The Pirates are riding the hot hand (or hot arm) of starting pitcher Edinson Volquez in their biggest game of the season.

Options behind Volquez
Notable Pirates relievers (2014)

In his last 10 starts this season, Volquez was 5-0 with a 1.36 ERA and 1.08 WHIP, with only three home runs allowed in 66 innings pitched.

Volquez has not faced the Giants this season but faced them five times last season with the San Diego Padres, posting a 6.08 ERA. Among those with good career numbers against him are Brandon Belt (8-for-18 with a home run), Pablo Sandoval (6-for-13 with three doubles) and Buster Posey (5-for-9 with two doubles).

Madison Bumgarner multi-talented

Giants starter Madison Bumgarner has a good postseason pedigree. He’s 3-2 with a 3.79 ERA in his career in the postseason, including 15 scoreless innings in the World Series.

Options behind Bumgarner
Giants bullpen in 2014

Bumgarner pitched very well away from AT&T Park in 2014. He was 11-4 with a 2.22 ERA in road starts this season. The 11 wins tied Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright for the most in the majors. The ERA ranked sixth best.

In addition to being one of the game’s top pitchers, Bumgarner was arguably baseball’s best hitting pitcher this season.

That’s a little odd considering he entered the season with a .138 career batting average and two home runs in 224 at-bats. He hit .258 with four home runs (and 27 strikeouts) in 66 at-bats in 2014 (he’s a more likely threat to get a hit than Volquez, who was 2-for-53 this season).

Bumgarner’s four home runs were the most by a Giants pitcher since the team moved to San Francisco in 1958. He has shown the ability to go deep against pitches on the inner half and outer half of the plate.

Pirates secret weapon: Josh Harrison

The star of stars for the Pirates is center fielder Andrew McCutchen, who followed up his MVP season of 2013 with a similar output in 2014, leading the NL with a .952 OPS.

But one of the players who came out of nowhere to spark the offense in a big way was utility man Josh Harrison, who settled in at third base after Pedro Alvarez struggled.

Harrison finished second in the NL with a .315 batting average (including .345 against left-handed pitching), had 58 extra-base hits, 18 stolen bases and an .837 OPS. He also had 14 defensive runs saved, with eight in 72 games at third base.

Giants secret weapon: Joe Panik

The Giants have gotten really good postseason production in the recent past from their second basemen, so when Marco Scutaro lasted only five games upon his return to the team in July, there was cause for concern.

Star Watch
Buster Posey's Last 33 Games

But the play of second baseman Joe Panik, upon his recall from Triple-A, alleviated that. Panik hit .305 in 73 games and closed the season with 13 hits (and a .333 batting average) in his last nine games.

The Giants played eight other players at second base this season. They combined to hit .180.

History of note: Hot in postseason, hot at home

The Giants have won seven straight postseason games, the longest postseason winning streak in franchise history.

The Pirates were 51-30 at home, tied with the Washington Nationals and St. Louis Cardinals for the best such record in the National League.