Tomorrow afternoon, the 2015 Pittsburgh Pirates season begins. Expectations haven't been this high for a baseball team in Pittsburgh since the 1992 season. 2 Straight visits to the Playoffs, a more experienced team.. these Pirates are expected to do more than the 2013 and 2014 teams.
That is exciting.
Going into a season with those types of expectations? We could only dream of that 5 years ago, now here we are on the eve of Opening Day and the excitement and hysteria for Pirates baseball is as high as it is for the Pens and near that of the Steelers.
Can't you feel the excitement?
The grass is getting greener, the air is smelling like spring, the temperatures are getting warmer and the crack of the ball off of baseball bats in ballparks nation wide are on their way professionally!
What of the Pirates? What are the keys for the Pirates this year to accomplish their goal of getting to the World Series? Winning the Division is the biggest need, so that they can avoid the 1 and done scenario, so how do they get there?
Without divulging into a bunch of stats and sabermetrics, since there's enough bloggers that have done that, I'll spare you the need to have a Math degree!
1. NO BAD MONTHS
The Pirates would have won the division if they'd have just played .500 ball in the month of April. They got off to such a bad start going 9-16 in April that they spent most of the season climbing out of that hole. 2 games back. 13-12 or 12-13, the Pirates win the division.
2. NO REGRESSION
The one thing that can happen in sports with players is that they can have that bad unexplained season. The Pirates need all of their players to meet or exceed expectations. Josh Harrison can't return to being a sub .250 hitter. A.J. Burnett can't repeat what he did in Philadelphia last season. Marte, Walker, McCutchen, Alvarez, Cole, & Polanco need to meet expectations.
The Central Division is extremely tight. St.Louis hasn't gotten worse. Milwaukee played well for 4 months in 2014, the Reds are contenders and the Cubs made a few nice offseason moves to add to a young and upcoming club. IT's not only a tight division, it's a very difficult division, one that the Pirates can't afford any player set backs if they expect to win it.
3. BEAT DIVISIONAL OPPONENTS
You see how I segued from #2 to #3? The Pirates with 36-40 in the Division last year. That's not going to cut it. The Cardinals by comparison were 45-31. It doesn't matter what sport it is, winning against divisional opponents are the most important wins. You face divisional opponents the most.
This is certainly an area the Pittsburgh Pirates can and need to improve. The Cubs are a better team, so expecting them to go 14-5 against the Cubs while letting the Cardinals take them 11 times out of 19 and the Reds and Brewers own them 12 out of 19, isn't going to happen. The Pirates need to play better against the Reds, Cardinals and Brewers to the tune of winning records.
Nothing is scientific. I could probably mention a lot of little things such as Pedro Alvarez needing return to form or Jordy Mercer not starting off the season batting below the Mendoza line for the month of April. Those guys simply need to play up to expectations. Mercer is a .270-.280 hitter. Pedro Alvarez is a 30+ Home Run hitter. Those are expectations that are needed.
2014 was a building season. Where 2013 had every last ounce of magic from begging to end, 2014 was a season where the Pirates started to find themselves. The fans started to truly believe in them. The magic wasn't quite there. That spark from 2013 was missing, but you can those things now and the season hasn't even started. The way Spring Training was received. The record breaking attendances down there. More televised games and conversation about unimportant Spring Training games...
You can feel something special in the making..
As fans, let's help make this as special of a season and root, root, root for the Bucco's!
good read
I'm freaking pumped. Let's Go Bucs!
