Column | The Pittsburgh Pirates are finally fun again

The Pittsburgh Pirates have brought fun and excitement back to a fan base and city ready to watch winning baseball once again. 

Last season, the Pirates finished fourth in the NL Central with a 76-86 record. It’s been a while since the Bucs have had much fun. The ballclub has not had a winning season since 2018 and has not won a postseason series since 2013. 

Before the magical Wild Card game win over the Cincinnati Reds in 2013, the Pirates suffered twenty losing seasons in a row. In 2021, Pirates fans collectively decided they had enough. Only 27% of PNC Park seats sold per game on average — the second worst in the National League. Fans could attend a game for an average ticket price of $23.

However, the 2023 Buccos showed a spark that fans had not seen in years. In May, the Pirates held a 20-9 record with control of first place in the NL Central. But when the calendar turned to June, the Pirates plummeted to a 28-27 record and relinquished first place. 

The theme is that these strong runs occur, yet the law of averages always maintains, and the Pirates’ hot start never projects their inevitable decline.

However, the fans responded accordingly. The Pirates’ attendance almost doubled to 52% of PNC Park’s capacity in the 2023 season. The Pirates returned club legend Andrew McCutchen just before the season, and his attitude was infectious.

“I’m not here on a farewell tour. I’m here to play,” McCutchen said during his first press conference following his return to Pittsburgh.

The 2023 squad started to show some signs of real life. Third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes came into the league billed as an elite defensive third baseman and lived up to it by winning his first National League Gold Glove. The Pirates also locked up two-time All-Star outfielder Bryan Reynolds when he signed an eight-year, $106 million contract. The pitching started to improve, highlighted by Mitch Keller making his first All-Star game. 

The Pirates have always struggled with carrying momentum. The 1909 Bucs won the World Series in seven games. But rather than shooting themselves into annual contention, the ballclub did not even make the playoffs until 1925, where again, they won the World Series in seven games. The 1990-92 Pirates managed to lose three straight NLCS series, infamously followed by 20 seasons with little to acknowledge. 

The 2024 Pirates are here, and this team is aiming to shoot to orbit. The season started with five straight wins for the Bucs. Jared Jones, in his first two big league starts, coaxed 43 swings and misses, the most in the pitch-tracking era. Pitcher Paul Skenes, the recent No. 1 overall draft pick, dominated triple-A with a 0.99 ERA and quickly earned a call-up to the big leagues. 

If there is a reason that the Pirates conserve the strong momentum they have built, it’s Skenes. The other half of the “Hundo Boys” struck out seven in his first big league start. This made him the first Pirates pitcher to do so at age 21 or younger in over a hundred years, and he did not seem satisfied.

“You can chalk it up to a number of things,” Skenes said in an article on his debut. “But it just wasn’t as sharp as it’s been,” referring to his pitches in his first big-league start.

In Skenes’s second start, the phenom struck out the first seven opposing batters in a row and finished his six innings giving up no hits and striking out 11.

Further fueling the club’s success, All-Star Bryan Reynolds batted .330 and recorded a hit in 25 straight games for the Pirates in June, the longest streak for the Bucs since Kenny Lofton’s 26-game streak in 2003. The Pirates went 14-12 in the month.

Fast forward to July 5 against the Mets, and in only his tenth start, Skenes pitched in front of a sell-out home crowd that stayed the whole game, according to Pirates manager Derek Shelton. 

“You could feel the energy in the ballpark,” Shelton said in an AP News story about Skenes. “[The fans] were into it. Even late in the game when it was 14-2 they were still up on their feet. You get a situation like that sometimes where crowds will leave, and they were all here and cheering and I thought that was really cool.”

How did the Pirates win a game 14-2 against the Mets, who have held the second-best record in the MLB since May 29? Where did 14 runs even come from?

The Pirates slugged an MLB season-high seven home runs, including two grand slams — the first time the Pirates had done so since 1996. PNC Park even ran out of fireworks to celebrate the seventh.

Pittsburgh, known as the City of Champions for accomplishments by teams from a bygone era, is finally winning again. While still a distant goal, the Buccos are in the race for the post-season with a record of 48-48.

For the first time since 1975 with Jerry Reuss, the Pittsburgh Pirates have a pitcher starting for the National League in the MLB All-Star Game in Skenes. Through his first 11 starts before the break, the 22-year-old right-hander has a 6-0 record with a 1.90 ERA and struck out 89 batters with 13 walks across 66 and a third innings. Skenes’s impressive statistics earned him the starting job for the All-Star game — the first rookie to do so since Hideo Nomo in 1995. 

What is more fun than the heralded number one overall pick flying through the Pirates farm system, dominating his first start, rarely giving up hits, let alone runs and not only making the All-Star team but starting on the mound? 

Well, all that’s left to fully bake this feel-good story is to win NL Rookie of the Year — a foregone conclusion, considering ESPN bet oddsmakers opted to close the betting pool rather than leaving him at -1000 odds — and to make a run at the Cy Young award, which Skenes currently holds 13-2 odds to win. 

Is it too early to celebrate? If there is one thing Pirates fans know, it’s to cherish the good times, as they are not always around for long.