Can the Pirates avoid another slow start?

The 2018 season is upon us and if the Pittsburgh Pirates are to surprise some people this season, getting off to a good start would be helpful.

The Bucs haven’t always come out great out of the gate under Clint Hurdle and with a younger team that isn’t expected to do much, burying themselves early is going to be hard to overcome.

The month of April hasn’t always been kind to Hurdle’s teams, but while most people feel April struggles are a yearly occurrence, the Pirates haven’t been terrible in April’s of past.

In the past six seasons they have put up a 73-72 mark throughout the season’s first month.

Not terrible by any stretch, but for a team that was in contention for a three-year stretch, the Pirates found out that April wins can be just as important as August and September wins.

The Pirates fared as follows the past six season in March/April.

2017: 11-13

2016:  15-9

2015: 12-10

2014: 10-16

2013: 15-12

2012- 10-12

With not much expected out to the Pirates, a hot start to build some momentum could go a long way. The same goes for a lengthy losing streak out of the gate. It can start a long six-month downward spiral.

Schedule

The first month of the season could actually favor the Bucs if everything goes right.

They play 14 games against teams that made the postseason last year, but seventeen against teams that finished under .500.

Those 17 include six against the Tigers, four against the Reds and Phillies and three against the Marlins.

While the Tigers and Marlins project to be pretty bad, the Reds are always the Bucs’ kryptonite and the Phillies could be much improved.

There’s still five winnable series though.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Things get tougher when you look at three-game sets against the Cardinals, Cubs and Rockies, along with a short two-game set against the Twins next week. They also have one game with the Nats to close the month.[/perfectpullquote]

It’s wishful thinking, but if and only if the Bucs pitch well, they could find themselves with a winning record after April.

It’s a much better thought than the alternative.

Heat up the Bats

The Bucs biggest culprit for their April slumps have been the bats often don’t come back from Bradenton.

Many Pirates had good springs and while I don’t take any stock in spring training numbers, it would be nice to see some guys stay hot.

One thing they can’t afford those is April numbers like these:

2017- .243/.324.380

2016- .293/.378/.448

2015- .230/.280/.360

2014- .222/.297/.351

2013- .251/.318/.376

2012-.228/.282.337

Aside from 2016, coincidently they went 15-9 that year, those numbers are putrid.

Playing on the east coast in the cold, the ball doesn’t carry as much in the spring months and it is generally tough on hitters, but the Pirates simply can’t be that bad at the plate to start the season.

A good start will be helpful for this team.

We will start to find out on Friday if the Pirates can start the season on a high note.