Winning Records and Pirates Don't Mix

Ryan Ritchey (Lead Analyst): @BaseballAddicts

Credit: Bleacher Report
The Pittsburgh Pirates haven't had a winning season in twenty
years and are looking to end that trend in 2013. Through 76
games this season they are sixteen games over .500 which is the
most they have been since their last winning season in 1992.

In 1992 the Pittsburgh Pirates won their third consecutive division title with a ninety-six win season. They ended up losing in the National League Championship Series to the Atlanta Braves. The manager for that '92 team was now Detroit Tigers skipper Jim Leyland. Leyland had now New York Mets manager Terry Collins as an assistant on the club. Notable players on the '92 team are now Diamondbacks skipper Kirk Gibson, knuckle-baller Tim Wakefield, and slugger Barry Bonds. That is the last time the Pirates had a winning season.

The 1993 season started, the Pirates were without Barry Bonds who went to San Francisco and they went on to finish with twenty-one less wins than the previous season and the streak had started. This was the first of twenty consecutive seasons with a record below five hundred. There have been 7 different managers for this team since the '92 season and it looks like they have found the one they want in Clint Hurdle. Hurdle took over in 2011 and has had a better record every year since. The closest they have come to a .500 record is winning seventy-nine games twice in 1997 and 2012. 

Things are looking to turn around in 2013 as the Pirates are now sixteen games over five hundred through seventy-six games. This is the most games over five hundred they have been since the '92 season when they won ninety-six games. It has been with a good mix of offense and pitching that the Pirates have gotten to this record. Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez are leading the way offensively with big numbers and the pitching is getting great numbers from a number of players. The Pirates are playing team ball to say the least and it seems to be working in their favor. 

The surprise player on this team is Jason Grilli. Grilli has thirty-one career saves, twenty-six of them coming this season. He has blown only one save in twenty-seven chances. If a team is going to win consistently they have to have a guy in the back end of the bullpen that can close down games consistently. Grilli has been able to do that so far this season and the Pirates continue to win close games. The Pirates are 13-10 in one run games and 5-4 in extra-inning games. 

The city of Pittsburgh is pleading for a winning from their baseball team and this looks like the season to do it. Great pitching can take a team a long way, the call up of Gerrit Cole could become the best thing for this club as he is 3-0 in his first three major league starts. Not only could the Pirates finish above .500 in 2013 but they could also be looking at a playoff berth. 

Credit: Forbes to Federal
The Pittsburgh Pirates are led by Andrew McCutchen, A.J Burnett,
Pedro Alvarez and Jason Grilli. Can they get above .500? That is the real
question around PNC Park. Can Clint Hurdle right the ship to a winning season?