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The 2024 season has gone completely off the rails for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Entering the month of August, they were above .500 and well within reach of a Wild Card spot (and potentially even the National League Central division title). After a rough August, things don’t look like they’ll be turning around in September. While they've started the month "only" 2-2, one of those losses was via no-hitter.
Unfortunately, if you’re a Pirates fan over the age of 15, this is the third late-season collapse that has happened in your lifetime. Since the start of the 162-game season in 1961, the Pirates have had a winning percentage below .300 four times throughout the final month of the season. The way things are looking, they could quite possibly add a fifth team to that list, but it's first worth examining the other four.
Pirates' Worst September Collapses in Franchise History
2012
Unsurprisingly, one of the worst months in Pirates history was one of the multiple recent late-season collapses. Like this season, the Pirates headed into August 2012 with playoff hopes. At the end of July, they were 59-44, only three games out of the division, and in possession of a Wild Card. A rough August led to them falling out of the division race, but staying in the Wild Card race. However, things completely fell apart in September.
They would go on to have just a 9-22 record in the final month of the year. That was the most losses by any National League team, and tied with the Boston Red Sox for the most Ls in that month among all MLB teams. Their pitching staff combined for a 4.49 ERA, 4.06 FIP, and 1.34 WHIP. They were around the middle of the pack when it came to striking out batters (21.3%) and walking them (7.9%), as well as limiting home runs (1.09 HR/9).
But where the team fell apart the most was offensively. They combined to hit just .227/.303/.358. They ranked bottom ten in each of the three triple-slash stats. The lineup had a sub-.300 wOBA at .290, and a wRC+ of just 82. Both stats once again ranked in the bottom 10 of MLB teams during that month of the year. The only positive to come out of the offense was their 9.1% walk rate, but their 22.7% K% was the league's fifth-highest mark.