In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have played their final home game of the 2018 season and they may have saved their worst for last. The Milwaukee Brewers took the Pirates to the woodshed on Sunday afternoon with a 13-6 shellacking.
Despite the bad loss, the Pirates enjoyed a very solid home season this year. The team was 44-36 at PNC Park, which makes their overall record even more disappointing. The 2018 Pirates were NOT a bad team, but they just consistently struggled on the road.
The 2018 Pirates found a way to both overachieve and underachieve at the same time. The team will likely finish with a better record than most predicted back in April, however, following the Trade Deadline, the team struggled and overall left fans feeling disappointed.
The Pirates obviously failed in their ultimate goal of returning to the postseason, but this year’s team still did a lot of good things on the field. Trevor Williams took a giant step forward and showed he is an outstanding Big League Pitcher. Jameson Taillon proved that has all the tools to be a legitimate Major League ace.
Despite the more than stellar pitching by both the starters and the bullpen, the Pirates still failed to stay in contention and the reason is obvious. The Pirates have a lot of work to do on the offensive side of the game.
Before the season began, I don’t expect many felt the pitching would be the team’s biggest area of strength, but that was exactly what happened. During the second half of the regular season, no team pitched better than the Pirates, however, their porous offense prevented them from staying in contention.
The Pirates still have two series left to play and need to go 3-4 to secure a winning season. No team sets out to simply be above .500, but a winning season is certainly better than a losing one. It’s also important to nip the current losing seasons streak in the bud, because Pittsburghers know how out of hand those can get!
The Pirates could also play the role of spoiler for the Chicago Cubs and I think every fan would enjoy that. The Cubs are currently 2.5 games up on the Brewers for first place in the NL Central and I would guess most fans would prefer the Brewers winning the division than the Cubs. The Pirates may be mathematically eliminated, but they can still play a part in the makeup of the Major League playoffs.
The book is nearly finished on the 2018 Pittsburgh Pirates and it was one hell of a wild ride. The team peaked with their 11 game win streak and balanced that out with basically a month of losing. Baseball is a game of peaks and valleys and the Pirates had the highest highs and the lowest lows. When you take the good, the bad, and the ugly, you are left with a mediocre baseball club, which is exactly what the 2018 Pirates were.
I am hoping the team plays well in their final week of the season, because I want a winning season and I’d love to cost the Cubs the NL Central title.
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