The Pittsburgh Pirates Just Need To Survive April

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ April schedule is not easy

The Pittsburgh Pirates are currently eight games into their 2017 campaign. Thus far, the team owns a record of 3-5. And there is no denying that getting off to a sub-.500 start through the season’s first week-plus is disappointing.

When looking at the team’s April schedule, it is not an easy one. The seven teams that the Pittsburgh Pirates play in April had a combined winning percentage of .529 in 2016. This includes a combined nine games with arguably the best team in each league, the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs.

Adding to the struggle of April is the fact that the Cincinnati Reds are off to arguably the best start in the National League. While the Reds will still lose 85-90 games and finish last in the National League Central division, the team is off to a hot 7-2 start.

This 7-2 start for the Reds is due to the team having hit the second most home runs in the National League thus far, while also allowing the fewest runs in the league. Right now, the Reds are, no pun intended, red hot and the Bucs caught them at the wrong time.

Looking ahead to May, on paper, things get much easier. During the month of May, the Pittsburgh Pirates play eight different teams. These eight teams had a combined winning percentage of just .484 during the 2016 season.

In fact, based on 2016 winning percentage, April’s schedule is the most difficult of the 2017 season. This makes getting out of April at or around .500 very important. If the Pittsburgh Pirates can do this, they should be just fine moving forward.

Starting with the month of May, the Pittsburgh Pirates should be able to start to pile up some victories. If they fail to do so, they have no one to blame but themselves. But first and foremost, they need to survive what could be a brutal month of April.

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There is no denying that the Pittsburgh Pirates are off to a slow start. However, the team is better than their current 3-5 record. They have not played an easy schedule thus far and the rest of April will be no walk in the park, either.

It is key that the team simply survives this opening month. If the Bucs can get to May 1st at or around .500, they should be just fine. Because their schedule will begin to soften up as the season goes on.