Pittsburgh Pirates: 2021 NL Central Projections Are Bleak

The 2021 National League Central looks to be weaker than a season ago.  What can the Pittsburgh Pirates do this year?

Last year, the Pittsburgh Pirates finished with the worst record in baseball and look to be one of the worst teams in the league entering 2021.  While the club is rebuilding, the rest of the National League Central does not look too promising either.

MLB.com writer Mike Petriello wrote about how the division is a four team race in 2021, looking at FanGraphs projection system.  He wrote that,

"“That’s why the Cardinals have the most helium right now, because they went and did the thing no one else was willing or able to do. But is it that hard to make a case for any of last year’s top four teams? Not really. (Yes, only four — the Pirates are clearly rebuilding and are not expected to be competitive.)After all, here’s how the 2021 NL Central is projected. You might be surprised, but not so much for the Bucs.Cardinals 79-83Brewers 77-85Cubs 76-86Reds 75-87Pittsburgh Pirates 64-98″"

There is no team projected with a winning record in the NL Central and the Pirates are projected to finish 15 games behind the Cardinals at 64 wins.  The Pirates are rebuilding, already trading off Josh Bell, Joe Musgrove, and Jameson Taillon.  The more interesting part is the projections for the Cardinals (who just added Nolan Arenado) and the Chicago Cubs (trading of Darvish).  No team seems to be all that strong heading into the 2021 season.

Further, the Pittsburgh Pirates are projected to be the worst team in baseball at a .398 win percentage with the Orioles projected at .413 and Rockies projected at .422.  This leads to the Orioles projected to be three games better than the Pirates and the Rockies four games better than the Pirates.  It looks to be a rough season ahead for the Pirates, but it is one that should be used as a development process and improvement from certain players.