I said it all winter and nobody wanted to hear it. The Pittsburgh Pirates season is two games old, they are 0-2, they just got walked off by Luis Robert Jr. in the 11th inning on a three-run shot off Hunter Barco, and every single person who spent the last three months telling me this team was different owes me an apology.
Two for eighteen with runners in scoring position. Eighteen men left on base. The Pittsburgh Pirates season opened with back to back losses and a series already gone, and the whole “new era of Pirates baseball” narrative lasted approximately 48 hours before the same team showed up and did the same thing it has been doing for a decade.
Pittsburgh Pirates Season Built on a Press Release
The Pirates front office made a real show of this offseason and I want to give them credit for one thing: they know how to get Pittsburgh fans to lower their guard. They signed Ryan O’Hearn out of free agency to a two year, $29 million deal. First multi-year free agent signing since Ivan Nova in 2016. Biggest average annual value of any free agent in Pirates history. They traded for Brandon Lowe. They talked about competing. They used the word contender out loud without flinching.
And people bought it. People wanted to buy it. I understand that because being a Pirates fan is brutal and sometimes you just need something to hold onto in January. But I watched this organization for a decade and I knew what this was. It was enough spending to change the conversation without actually changing the team. The Pittsburgh Pirates season was going to tell us the truth fast, and it did.
The Pittsburgh Pirates Season Already Told You Everything
Mitch Keller pitched well on Saturday. I want to say that clearly because it matters and because it makes what happened worse. Keller came in against the same Mets lineup that chased Paul Skenes before he could get three outs on Opening Day and Keller kept them in the game for six innings. The pitching held. The Pirates had a lead. They had men on base all afternoon.
They loaded the bases in the fifth and Marcell Ozuna popped up. They got two runners on in the sixth and Huascar Brazoban came in and ended the inning without a run scoring. On it went for eleven full innings until Hunter Barco hung a slider in the 11th and Luis Robert Jr. put it over the left center wall and the game was over. Pittsburgh went 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position and left 18 men on base and lost 4-2.
This is the Pittsburgh Pirates season every single year. When Skenes pitches, the offense disappears. When the offense wakes up enough to stay in a game, the bullpen gives it away. There is never a day where both sides show up at the same time and there was nothing in this offseason that actually fixed why that keeps happening. O’Hearn and Lowe are good pieces. They are not a solution. I said that in December and the results through two games have not given me any reason to walk it back.
Prepare for the Sweep
Pittsburgh has already lost the series. Game 3 is tomorrow and the Mets are at home and confident and the Pirates are dragging a tired bullpen and an offense that just went 2-for-18 with RISP into a game they need to win to avoid getting swept in the first series of the year.
Seven straight losing seasons. No playoffs since 2015. The Pittsburgh Pirates season opens with 18 men left on base and a walkoff loss in extra innings because this lineup cannot come through when it matters, same as last year, same as the year before. They spent more money this winter than they have in almost a decade and I still told you it was not going to be enough. Two games in and here we are.
I am not happy about being right. But I am not pretending to be surprised either.
