Pirates Pillaging the Win Column

With the month of June right around the corner, the Pittsburgh Pirates are rolling and stand at 34-20, good enough for the second best record in all of baseball, trailing only the St. Louis Cardinals (35-17) who lead the NL Central division by 2 games over the streaking Pirates. With a 16-4 record in their last 20 games including 3 out of 4 wins against the reigning American League champion Detroit Tigers, Clint Hurdle's Pittsburgh ball club is the hottest team in all of baseball and figures to make a habit out of their recent winning ways. But no matter how hot the Bucs may be out of the gates or even at the All-Star break, Pirate fans won't hold their breath until the final out of game no. 162 as they've grown all too familiar with disappointment in the past. 

While most franchises and their fans would complain about missing the playoffs for two decades, the Pirates haven't even finished a season above .500 in that span. Not only have the Buccos endured one of the most crucial playoff droughts in all of sports, but they own the distinction of having the longest streak in North American sports history with 20 consecutive losing seasons. To put that into perspective, the Pirates haven't made the postseason since the George H.W. Bush administration back in 1992. Andrew McCutchen, who is  the catalyst of the Pirates offense and is be the best player to don the black and yellow since Barry Bonds did so from the mid to late 80's to the early 90's, was six years old when Pittsburgh last made a trip to the postseason. A dry-spell he's now being counted on to help end. And after coming within just four games of the .500 mark in 2012 before finishing the year 79-83, a year in which the McCutchen-led Pirates were sixteen games above .500 as late into the season as August 8th before much of that same disappointment came crashing down on Pittsburgh, McCutchen and company look to ensure a collapse of that magnitude doesn't happen again.

Led by a surprisingly good pitching staff which boasts a 3.12 ERA, second in the bigs to only the division-rival Cardinals and is second in the NL in strikeouts behind Cincinnati, Pittsburgh's bullpen has stolen the show up to this point. Anchored by reliever Jason Grilli who has yet to blow a save this year, has converted on a perfect 22 of 22 save opportunities to lead the Majors. Ace A.J. Burnett who was acquired during the off-season and knows a thing or two about winning having won a World Series in 2009 while with the Yankees, leads the NL in punchouts, trailing only Texas' Yu Darvish for the Major League lead. But whether or not the Pirates' pitching staff can continue their early dominance on into All-Star break and more importantly beyond it, is worth keeping an eye on. 

Though McCutchen will most likely be in the MVP race come seasons end like he was last year, the Bucs will only go as far as their pitching takes them. If the rotation and bullpen holds up, Pittsburgh just might see their losing ways come to an end. But if their pitching staff begins to fold down the stretch and the ball club is forced to lean on their offense, the Pirates' hopes of making it over .500 and into the postseason might sink along with their ship.



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