Pirates homestand report card for May 26-31

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May 31, 2017; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; The Pittsburgh Pirates ground crew works on the field between the half inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the eleventh inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

Overall thoughts

Through all of the drunk driving, steroid taking incidents. Through all of the injuries and overall lack of production, the Pittsburgh Pirates are 5 games out of first place in the NL Central. To put that into perspective, the Bucs are in a better position the win the NL Central than they were at this point in their 98-win campaign in 2015. Does this say more about the strength of the Bucs or the weakness of the NL Central?

If you know anything about baseball, the answer to that question is an obvious one. As it stands, The Bucs are not a good team. They are what their 24-30 record indicates. The good news is that unless the people who built PNC Park did so on an ancient Indian Burial Ground, the Pirates won’t experience as much bad luck and adversity over the next four months of the season as they have in the first two.

As far as talent is concerned, the Pirates can only go up from here. The way I see it is that if the Bucs are still within five games of first by mid-July when Starling Marte and (hopefully) Jameson Taillon are back, then things could get interesting. Although that might seem unlikely, as the Chicago Cubs still could heat up at any moment, the ineptitude of this division is hard to underestimate.

Next: Gosselin, Moroff Returning To Pirates

Things are bound to get better fairly soon. But as long as the Pirates roster is not at full strength, 2-4 home stands like this one will continue to take place.

Overall grade: C-

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Pirates home stand report card for May 26-31

By Joe Smeltzer | Jun 2, 2017