Happy Opening Day, Pittsburgh Pirates Fans!

Finally, another long, miserable Pennsylvania winter is in the books. Spring is here. And, best of all, it is MLB Opening Day!

Ladies and gentlemen our long, national nightmare is over…. Major League Baseball Opening Day is here! At 4:05 this afternoon Adam Frazier will dig into the dirt in the left-handed hitter batter’s box at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. When he does this he will stare down right-handed pitcher Luis Castillo and the 2019 Pittsburgh Pirates season will be underway.

Opening Day should be a national holiday in this country. If we’re being honest, it’s a sin that it is not. Baseball is America’s past time after all. Instead of members of Congress arguing nonstop over minuscule issues, it’s time they come together, as red blooded Americans, and make MLB Opening Day a national holiday.

2019 is a season that has plenty of question marks for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but also plenty of promise. The Pirates will boast one of the best pitching staffs in all of baseball. Earlier this week, their starting rotation was ranked as the nine best in all of baseball by FanGraphs and the seventh best by MLB.com, and this goes without mentioning what is also one of the five-to-ten best bullpens in the Majors.

Simply put, pitching wins. When a team has a pitching staff capable of limiting an opposing offense, odds are, they are going to win more games than they will lose. In 2019, the Pirates have such a staff.

The leader of this pitching staff is young righty Jameson Taillon. In 2018 Taillon put together his first full MLB season, and turned into one of the 10 best starting pitchers in the National League in the process. This led to him earning the Opening Day bid for the Pirates as both the team and Taillon look for the 27-year-old to continue to bud into a bonafide ace this season.

As the old saying goes: hope springs eternal. With the start of the season of spring and the end of Spring Training upon us, hope is high within the Pirate Clubhouse due to the aforementioned pitching staff. This team believes, this team is confident, and that always bodes well for any team.

A confident team of believers never quits. A confident team of believers is the type of team that is the hardest for opponents to put away. Expect this to be the case with the Battling Bucs of 2019.

With Opening Day here, it’s time for us fans to think of an anticipate the fun times ahead. For every Taillon, Chris Archer, Keone Kela, and Felipe Vazquez strikeout. It is time to be in awe of each majestic home run hit by Gregory Polanco, Josh Bell, and Jung Ho Kang. Every dazzling play in the outfield by Starling Marte, and countless Francisco Cervelli fits pumps after a big out.

Once again it is time for summer nights with friends and family at the best ballpark in America – PNC Park. It’s time for ballpark food, beverages, and fun. It is time to make memories that will last a lifetime. It is time for Pirates baseball.