Rum Bunter’s 2020 Pittsburgh Pirates Staff Preview: Jack

Taking a look at the very near future of Pirates’ baseball and predicting what the 2020 season will have in store for fans

The 2020 Pittsburgh Pirates season promises to be the most unconventional we have ever and, hopefully, will ever see. The team will play thirty games on the North Shore of Pittsburgh and thirty away from home. Twenty of those games will come against the American League Central and the other forty will pit the Pittsburgh Pirates against their division rivals. There will be no fans present. There will be a universal designated hitter. Much has been made about these stipulations, but from them arise one indisputable fact; we are lucky.

We are lucky, as baseball fans, that in the midst of ongoing national and international tragedy, we will be granted the therapeutic release of a 7:05 EST first pitch most nights for the next two months. As Pirate fans, we are lucky that the first season under a new president, general manager, and head coach has not been completely lost. Seeing the current squad in competitive action will be incredibly vital for Ben Cherrington and company to address what the Pirates have to work with and what the Pirates need.

Anything can happen in a sixty-game stretch, but it is not likely the Pittsburgh Pirates will compete for a playoff spot. However, there are players on this team that have considerable value and will be fun to watch in 2020 and, hopefully, be a part of future winning teams in Pittsburgh.