What goes around, comes around.

One might be able to say that when it comes to the Pittsburgh Pirates and the National League standings now compared to 50 years ago.

The Bucs entered this weekend’s series in Cincinnati as one of four teams in the NL Central above .500.

In 1964, they were one of five teams in the 10-team National League that were above .500 as the all-star break approached. Like this year, the Cardinals and Reds were two of the others.

The Pirates were 42-39 at the midway point in 1964. They were 41-40 at the midway point this year.

The 1964 Pirates faded, finishing 80-82, looking up at league champion St. Louis, Cincinnati and Milwaukee (Braves) in the standings. Hopefully, that won’t happen this time around.

Besides the standings, the 2014 Pirates are showing little in common with the numbers the 1964 team put up.

Consider the following:

The 1964 Pirates had seven players — Willie Stargell, Jerry Lynch, Roberto Clemente, Donn Clendenon, Bob Bailey, Jim Pagliaroni and Bill Mazeroski — finish with double-digit home run totals.

The 2014 Pirates will not approach that sort of power balance, but will likely hit more than the 121 homers amassed by the team 50 years ago.

The 1964 Pirates managed to steal only 39 bases as a team. The current club has already swiped 64 bases. Starling Marte has 21 steals to lead the Bucs. Clendenon led the 1964 contingent with 12.

Bob Veale pitched 279 innings for the Pirates in 1964 while Bob Friend logged 240 innings and Vern Law 192.

With this season more than half over, Charlie Morton leads the Bucs with 113.1 innings pitched. Edinson Volquez is the only other Pirate who has thrown even 100 innings.

Clemente won the National League battling title in 1964, hitting .339. Andrew McCutchen is fifth in the NL batting race this year with a .316 average, 34 points off the league lead.

While Gerrit Cole is a decent hitter, he can’t match the numbers put up at the plate by Pirate hurlers Law and Joe Gibbon in 1964. Law collected 19 hits and batted .311 while winning 12 games that year. Gibbon hit .255 with 12 hits on his way to a 10-win season.

Though Mark Melancon did not inherit the Pirates’ closer’s role until well into this season, he will likely surpass Al McBean’s 22 saves of 1964. Elroy Face was second on the team with four saves.

Of course, starting pitchers finished what they started 50 years ago. The Bucs threw 42 complete games in 1964 — and were just seventh in the league in that category. A Pirate pitcher has yet to toss a complete game this season.

One thing remains the same. A pennant race creates excitement in any city.

That will be true 50 years from now.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle