Confirmed
Conf
Over the last couple of seasons, Pittsburgh has had company at the bottom of the NL Central. With the addition of some big names down on the river in Cincinnati, the Pirates may find the going lonely in 2020. Pittsburgh has some nice feel-good players on their team, but they lost one of the key elements in the middle of their batting order. There are some talented young players in the Pirates' order that will be fun to watch mature.
However, in a tough division it could be hard to expect the Pirates to be competitive on a night-after-night basis. One reason they will experience more down moments than highlights is a starting rotation that doesn't appear to be imposing. The staff ace has fallen on some difficult times over the last couple seasons, and a rekindling of his performance could be a nice stopgap option to prevent long losing streaks. However, the bottom four of the rotation project as average at best.
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Game | Score | Starting Pitcher | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
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9/26 @ CLE | W 8-0 |
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9/25 @ CLE | L 3-4 |
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9/24 vs CHC | W 7-0 |
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9/23 vs CHC | W 2-1 |
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9/22 vs CHC | W 3-2 |
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Contents
The Pirates are a young team but are also going through a rebuild where they might not be sure where to go with some of these names. Injuries have plagued this team, especially Gregory Polanco. The positive is that the DH comes to the National League this season, and Polanco can spend less time in the field. Josh Bell had a breakout 2019 and is the big power bat in the lineup. There aren't many home run hitters as most of these guys can hit for contact and not much more. Colin Moran, Adam Frazier, and Bryan Reynolds are all names who hit for more contact and will be sitting in the top half of the lineup. Kevin Newman will play shortstop and hit towards the bottom of the lineup as the Pirates wait for some of their prospects to come up.
Gregory Polanco is projected to start in the right field once he returns to the lineup. He might work himself in as a DH, but either way, Polanco will be an everyday bat for Pittsburgh as long as he remains healthy.
Jose Osuna is the man likely to DH for the Pittsburgh Pirates most nights. As always, you will get some rotational players every now and then, but Osuna is the bat to lock up the job.
Cole Tucker is one of the up and coming players for Pittsburgh, but he will not have a full-time role in 2020. Tucker will likely draw a few spot starts and make some pinch-hit appearances, but nothing more.
The 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates were one of the best offenses ever, as seven players hit over .300, and they had four players over the 100 RBI mark. The Pirates would win 95 games and the World Series.
In 1952, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost 112 games and finished 54.5 games out of first place. They failed to score more than 515 runs and allowed over 750. Pittsburgh had a total WAR of just 5.7 that season.
There is a rich history in Pittsburgh, and Robert Clemente is a name stands at the top of the games played list, but Honus Wagner joins him. They both played in 2,433 games apiece. They played 18 years, at different times, of course.