Pittsburgh Pirates Mathematically Eliminated From The Postseason

The Pittsburgh Pirates three year postseason run has, officially, come to an end after losing to the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night.

Unfortunately, there will be no Buctober this season. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ efforts to make the postseason in four consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history is going to fall short. Due to the Pirates losing to the Cubs on Tuesday night and the San Francisco Giants being successful the Pirates are now mathematically eliminated from the postseason race.

While it had been pretty obvious for a few weeks now that the Pirates would not make the postseason, it is now official. While being mathematically eliminated from the postseason is no fun the future remains bright in Pittsburgh. Unlike a lot of fans, I am not expecting 2017 to be some sort of catastrophic disaster.

In recent days I have seen a lot of Tweets from people complaining about how bad the 2017 Pittsburgh Pirates will be. Some people have said the 2017 Pirates will be even worse than the 2016 team, that this will be the start of a new losing streak, etc., etc. However, this is simply not the case.

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There are a lot of reasons for optimism surrounding the 2017 Pirates. First and foremost, the entire core returns. Andrew McCutchen, Gregory Polanco, Starling Marte, Francisco Cervelli, Adam Frazier, Josh Bell, Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon, Juan Nicasio, and Felipe Rivero, among others, will all be back. Secondly, the pitching staff will improve.

Due to the Pirates getting a full season out of Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon the starting rotation will be better. Chad Kuhl will help to improve the rotation as well. Also, Nick Kingham will be ready to join the rotation in 2017.

I expect the Pirates to add a starting pitcher or two this offseason to help the rotation as well. I also believe that Tyler Glasnow is close to putting it all together and becoming a legitimate Major League starting option. Trevor Williams is another starter that I remain high on.

The 2017 Pirate bullpen should also be very good. A core of Tony Watson, Felipe Rivero, Juan Nicasio, Antonio Bastardo, and A.J. Schugel is a very good start for a bullpen. The Pirates are a power arm or two away from an elite bullpen in 2017.

More than likely the 2017 Pirates will finish with a losing record. This will be their first losing record since 2012. However, this is not the end of the world. It is far, far from it. Bigger and better things await in 2017.