Grisly Yankees playoff comparison somehow makes Pirates' plight feel even worse

As the October action kicked off and now rages on, the Pittsburgh Pirates have been sitting at home. Again. It's been a decade since the Pirates last crashed the playoff dance. They've been so far removed from the postseason that you'd think they'd finally be safe from criticism.

Unfortunately, you'd be wrong. The Pirates couldn't help but catch a stray in light of the postmortem analysis of the New York Yankees' untimely elimination. New York is blessed with the best hitter in the game and had the most potent regular-season offense in the league this year. But in their matchup against the Blue Jays, only Aaron Judge came to play.

As you can see, Judge's supporting cast was even worse than the Pirates' pitiful attack. That's a level of ineptitude previously unheard of. And while for a moment Pirates fans might take solace in the idea that it could actually be worse, this stat just serves as a grim reminder of where they stand.

The non-Aaron Judge Yankees hitting worse than the Pirates is just a grim reminder of where they stand

The Pirates' collective .655 OPS was by far the worst in baseball. There's a small silver lining, though. The next-worst team, the Cleveland Guardians, posted a .670 mark but won the AL Central. There's a difference between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, however. Cleveland has some pop, posting a .147 ISO compared to the Pirates' anemic .119 mark, which, again, was by far the worst in the league.

Pittsburgh hit a pathetic 117 homers last year, 31 fewer than the 29th-place St. Louis Cardinals. The Pirates' .350 slugging percentage was 23 points behind both the Guardians and the Chicago White Sox, by far the worst in the league.

Simply put, the Pirates need to add offense this offseason. They need it very badly. They can't simply wait for prospects to arrive and cross their fingers that they'll work out.

There is some good news, though. With the Pirates' pitching staff and ability to level up at home, just getting the offensive performance to be below average will be a huge boost in the standings. They just can't continue to be historically bad.

There's also the chance for growth among the younger players already on the roster, helping out in this regard. Oneil Cruz living up to potential would be ideal, but we'll believe it when we see it. In the meantime, Spencer Horwitz's second-half surge that saw him post a .916 OPS is a real glimmer of hope.

That said, Horwitz alone is just that, a glimmer. The Pirates need more. Ben Cherington needs to be on the prowl for under-the-radar targets, smart bounce-back candidates, and maybe a trade or two. Another putrid offensive season, and there will be an even bigger mutiny in Pittsburgh than what we've already seen.