Pittsburgh Pirates: An 11 Game Win Streak That Hurt More Than a Collapse

Baseball can work in mysterious ways. This is how an 11 game winning streak in 2018 had more of a negative impact than a second half collapse in 2019 did for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Between the 2016 and 2018 seasons, the Pittsburgh Pirates were essentially treading water. They weren’t an awful team, not losing fewer than 75 games in the three season stretch, but they were never a contender either as their highest win total was just 82.

However, there were two stretches of games in 2018 and 2019, ones that completely changed the directions the franchise was going in, and ones that would completely shake things up for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Entering 2018, it looked like the Pittsburgh Pirates were finally going to accept a rebuild. They had traded their franchise cornerstone since 2009, Andrew McCutchen, and their ace starting pitcher Gerrit Cole that off-season. While the ladder’s return wasn’t all that pretty, regardless, it looked like the Pirates were signaling that they were going to go through a soft rebuild, but a rebuild nonetheless.

But despite losing two of their biggest core assets the last couple of seasons, the Pittsburgh Pirates started off the season going 26-17. They were in possession of a wild card spot and a half of a game out of the division lead. However, they seemed to return to Earth as they went 14-30 from May 18th to July 6th.

But then, something strange happened. The Pirates did a complete 180 from what they were doing. From July 8th to August 11th, the Pirates were blazing hot. They went 21-9. Only the Boston Red Sox had more wins than them in this stretch. This was all capitalized by an 11 game winning streak that started on July 11th, and lasted through the all-star break until July 28th. And this 11 game winning streak might have been one of the worst things to happen to the Pirate franchise since Sid Bream sliding into home plate in the 1992 NLCS.

This 11 game winning streak gave the team false hope that they could compete. While the Pirates were winning games, the something just didn’t add up. The team was 14th in ERA (4.00), 15th in FIP (4.01), 17th in wRC+ (95), on base percentage (.317), slugging percentage (.406), 11th in batting average (.254), and 20th in wOBA (.312) during their 21-9 streak. Aside from their record, everything pointed to them being a middle of the road team.

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This false hope and 11 game winning streak made the Pirates think they could contend. In an effort to add to their pitching staff, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded Tyler Glasnow and Austin Meadows, two guys who were considered top 15 prospects not even two years ago, for Chris Archer. Not only did they part with them, but also 2017 first-round pick Shane Baz.

Now. you don’t need an expert to tell you, this trade hasn’t been good for the Pirates. Glasnow looks like an ace, and Meadows looks like a potential MVP candidate. Baz also looks really good as he ranks as the 119th best prospect in baseball, and the Rays’ 7th best prospect. Their farm system is loaded, coming in as the best prospect system per FanGraphs, so being their 7th best prospect is really good. Archer, on the other hand, has had a -0.1 bWAR for the Pirates.

However, the trade for Archer, nor for relief pitcher Keone Kela, their other big deadline pick-up, helped the Pirates make a playoff run, and they fell back to Earth for the remainder of the season. From August 12th to the end of the year, the team returned to being an overall average, but nothing much else with a 21-22 record. Overall though, they finished with a solid 82-79 record. Which gave false hope again that they could be something more than a middle of the road team.

So, the Pittsburgh Pirates entered 2019 with essentially the same core. Though they had let Jordy Mercer go in free agency, they had acquired Erik Gonzalez. While he did get injured early, along with Corey Dickerson on in 2019, the breakouts of Kevin Newman and Bryan Reynolds made up for it. And again, for the first few months of the season, they looked like a solid, but unimpressive team going 30-38 through June 13th. However, they went on a hot streak from June 14th up until the July All-Star Break, going 14-7.

But, unlike in 2018, the Pittsburgh Pirates completely collapsed after the All-Star Break. Throughout the last half of July, the Pirates went a horrid 3-16, highlighted by an 0-9 streak. This wasn’t the first time the Pirates had gone on a losing streak of more than five games in 2019, as they went 0-8 during a stretch in April, and 0-7 in a stretch June, and wouldn’t be the last.

While they weren’t nearly as bad in August or September compared to July, going 22-32 through the last two months, they still suffered an 8 game losing streak in August, and another 9 game losing streak in September. Overall, they finished 69-93, their worst record since 2010. This included going 25-48 through the second half of the season.

Not only did they lose, but there were also plenty of behind the scenes issues. Such as a fight that broke out between Kyle Crick and Felipe Vazquez. Though we now know how sick of a person the left handed pitcher is behind the scenes, it was all putting a black eye on the Pirates as a ball club.

In previous years, the Pirates stayed put, and didn’t change much coaching, or player wise. But this time around, something was actually done. It all started on the last game of the season with long time manager, Clint Hurdle, being let go.

After Hurdle was fired, pitching coach Ray Searage was next, as he was released just days after. Before October ended, Bob Nutting let go yet another big name, that being CEO Frank Coonelly. Nutting ended the month by firing the general manager of the team since September, 2007, Neal Huntington. As much as Pirate fans like to rag on Nutting and his spending habits, they have to give him credit for shaking things up when they absolutely needed to. He took action, and almost completely reshaped the front office and coaching staff.

But does he completely shake up the coaching staff, and the front office if the Pittsburgh Pirates don’t absolutely collapse in the second half of the season? If they won 75-80 games like they did between 2016 and 2018, does he let go of Hurdle, Searage, Coonelly, and Huntington? I would argue probably not.

The big one I want to focus on is Huntington’s firing, and his replacement. Ben Cherington was brought in as Huntington’s successor in mid-November. Since adding him, the Pittsburgh Pirates are in a much better place than they were at the end of 2019.

The team’s farm system only ranked as the 9th best according to FanGraphs when Huntington departed. However, since taking over as general manager, Cherington has really turned around this prospect system. Though they entered the year as the 5th best farm, they currently sit as the 6th best system. But they have the most top 100 ranked prospects in baseball. He’s done this by acquiring two very good prospects for former center fielder Starling Marte, one of which (Liover Peguero) is now a top 100 prospect. The other way that the awful second half helped the Pirates set themselves up for a better tomorrow is helped them get a top 10 draft pick, where Cherington selected Nick Gonzales, the 88th best prospect per FanGraphs, and 40th best prospect per MLB Pipeline. Ben Cherington seems to know what direction he wants to take the Pirates in, knowing that it’s better to lose now to win later. It seemed with Huntington in charge, the Pirates from ’16-’18 just seemed to stay put. They didn’t add, nor did they completely subtract, which led to overall mediocre seasons in those 3 years.

Baseball works in mysterious ways. An 11 game winning streak ended up being the start that caused the front office to go all in when they weren’t in a position to compete, overpay at the deadline, and set themselves back a few years. Meanwhile, a second half of a season where they lost nearly twice as many games as they won ended up being a blessing in disguise, and was the catalyst to help set the Pirates up for a better future, as they acquired a general manager who is going in a clear direction, and has so far built up a strong farm system.