The Pittsburgh Pirates look to wrap up Unfinished Business

During the 20 year losing streak, fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates were used to hearing the usual rhetoric from the front office and coaching staff year after year.

“We have a young ballclub that is finding its way.”

“We will field the best possible chance at competing within the structure of major league baseball.”

After the postseason runs of The New Streak, those phrases changed considerably, perhaps encapsulated by one single quote from the leader of the Pirates, Andrew McCutchen:

“There’s still more work to do,” Andrew McCutchen said.

For the Pittsburgh Pirates to fulfill national commentator predicitons, a few things will need to happen, which we will go over shortly.  Perhaps no one knows the amount of work needed to achieve success than Clint Hurdle.  The man who took the Colorado Rockies to a world series tells us the proper mindset his current team needs to have in order to make the same leap:

“We need to understand how we made progress,” Hurdle said. “We incrementally got a little bit better every day as a group over the last four years. Our goal is to push it forward. You can’t rest. We’re not looking to maintain or sustain. We’re looking to get better.”

Now that Clint has set the mindset, I’m going to tell you the three steps to the Pirates taking that next step this year. We’ll also hear from YOU, the readers, who came out in droves to participate in our free t-shirt giveaway in partnership with centerfieldsmoke.com.

First, let’s get the obvious out of the way

Next: Step One: Get off to a better start

Sep 19, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Mark Melanccon (35) reacts after securing the final out against the Milwaukee Brewers during the ninth inning at PNC Park. The Pirates won 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The Pirates went 10-16 in March/April 2014 and it cost them the division, hands down.  While there are some that subscribe to the “early season losses don’t hurt as much” way of thinking, I offer this rebuttal:  The Pirates lost the division by two games to the St. Louis Cardinals.  Even having three of those games back and settling for a 13-13 record would have likely won the division,  or at the very least provided the Pirates a bit more margin of error.

Imagine a world in which the August 18, 2014 Pirates, sitting only three games above .500 were instead six games over and tied with the Cardinals for second in the NL Central.  If that had occurred, the Pirates’ need to depend on Michael Martinez, Jayson Nix, etc. becomes less pronounced, and we would not have had to sweat each and every loss.  Looking a bit deeper, it’s very clear that the reason for the lukewarm start could be placed squarely on the bullpen’s shoulders.  The Pirates blew six games in April, good enough to be tied for the major league lead.  Jason Grilli of course took the lion’s share but Mark Melancon chipped in with two blown saves of his own.  Is it any wonder that Neal Huntington focused on the bullpen by bringing in Radhames Liz and Arquimedes Caminero?

Even a marginally better start for the Pirates could mean big things, but when the team gets away from the comforts of home, that presents another challenge.

Next: Step two: Become Kings of the Road

The Pittsburgh Pirates had a downright lousy record on the road in 2014, compiling a cumulative record of 37-44 away from picturesque PNC Park, conversed to a 51-30 record at home.  Even if the Pirates can find their way to a five-or-six game improvement, it could mean big things for the Bucs.

One of the challenges of any baseball writer is to find data to backup their points.  And, I think I may have just found our smoking gun.  In road games in which only four total runs were scored (i.e. tight games away from PNC), the Pirates were just 9-37, being outscored 191-100 in the process.  The Pirates, bad on the road to begin with, couldn’t get the offensive production needed to pull out the close ones.  If the problem was truly just an offensive one, that may solve itself with the emerging offensive threat that is the 2015 version of the Bucs.  Overall, the Pirates were only 31-29 in one-run games as well.

The final step to tie up loose ends and bring the World Series back to the Burgh lies in our own backyard.

Next: Step three: Beat up on someone other than the Cubs in the NL Central

Aug 27, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen (22) reacts after defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The third step to the Pirates winning it all hinges on one factor:  beat the teams in your division not named the Chicago Cubs.  Below is a look at the Pirates win-loss record against NL Central opponents:

At first glance, it’s hard to make sense of these numbers, as the Pirates actually outscored the Cardinals and the Brewers.  Perhaps this ties into my second point in this article, as the Pirates struggled mightily in Great American Ballpark and Miller field.  There is no getting around this point:  if the Pirates truly feel they can win the division, then they have to actually win more games in the division.  Sometimes, it’s truly as easy as just going out and winning.  If the Pirates can improve these divisional win-loss records, they will take the crown.

Last, we take a look at what you, the readers, had to say.

Next: The winners of our free shirt giveaway have their say