The Pittsburgh Pirates had a 20-8 record prior to beginning a series with the Tampa Bay Rays on May 2. They were perhaps the National League’s hottest club at the time.
Today, in the future, they are now perilously close to.500 ball: 21-17.
They have dropped nine of their last 10 games; they have lost two straight games going into today.
We weren’t exactly prepared for the Pirates to start the season 20-8.
However, we also didn’t anticipate him to lose nine out of ten games after seeing some of their players develop into genuine contributors.
They are taking a direct strike in the jaw from the regression monster.
Their current slump is supported by both their run differential and win-loss record.
Run differential, last 9 games before today:
+34 COL
+27 LAD
+24 TEX
+21 SD
+19 ATL
+16 SEA
+13 BOS
+10 TB
+9 CWS
+6 DET
+5 BAL
+3 ARI
0 WSH TOR
-1 CHC HOU KC
-2 NYY SF MIN
-3 LAA
-5 STL
-9 CLE
-12 MIL
-16 OAK
-17 PHI
-19 NYM MIA
-21 CIN
-42 PIT pic.twitter.com/RslJFqh1jECodify (@CodifyBaseball) May 10, 2023
The Pirates had a run differential of -42 in their previous nine games, which ended on Wednesday.
The Cincinnati Reds, who are the next-worst team, are far superior than them at -21.
In his last two appearances, Johan Oviedo has really battled, and Jack Suwinski has been ice-cold at the plate.
In Wednesday’s loss to the Colorado Rockies, Andrew McCutchen had already sustained injuries before hitting a home run, and Oneil Cruz is still hurt and won’t be back for some time.
The Pirates’ 20-8 record prior to the Rays series did not accurately reflect their performance.
They are also not as awful as their 1-9 record over their last 10 games might imply.
The truth usually falls somewhere in the middle.
There may be hope for them to contend or make the playoffs this year with Cruz’s upcoming comeback, several highly talented farm players, and a developing player development staff.
But regardless of how they do in 2023, the best is yet to come for them.