19 Losing Seasons

Post Written By Bloggin Buccos Contributer Michael Mawhinney:

    Today’s 3-2 loss against the Cardinals was the 82nd of the season, marking 19 straight losing years for the Pirates.  When the Pirates finished with their 17th consecutive losing season, they had broken the major North American sports record for that streak.  But by that time, and even now, it was to be expected, and many people didn’t even seem to care as much as they should.  In fact, the owner of this blog, Brian Hannon, and I were at the game two years ago where the buccos lost their 82nd game, breaking the infamous record.  When the game ended, there was a lot of cheering in the stands from the few who actually attended the game.  To be honest, Brian and myself were included in this.  We were proud to say that we saw the game that pretty much defined the Pirates over the last two decades.  But now, after 19 seasons, it is becoming a bit too much.
    We all know how the streak started.  In 1992, the last winning season we’ve had, we made the NLCS with high hopes of winning the pennant and were seemingly headed to the World Series with a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the 9th.  Needless to say, we gave up three runs in that inning, with the final run scored by the very slow Sid Bream on a bad throw by Barry Bonds.  After the season, we lost our best player in Bonds and our ace in Doug Drabek.  Things were looking bad heading into the future.  But we never thought it would be this bad.  
    The Pirates have seen star players come and go (Jason Bay, Freddy Sanchez, Jason Kendall), but none of them have led us to glory.  At one point in 2008, the bucs had possibly the most productive outfield in baseball, with Bay, Nate McLouth, and Xavier Nady.  All three of those players were traded within a year of each other, and the Pirates began to rebuild under General Manager Neal Huntington.  And finally, after so many losing seasons, the Pirates are finally giving us a glimmer of hope.
    Young players are becoming the forefront of our roster, highlighted by Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, Jose Tabata, and Pedro Alvarez (too much realized potential to keep Pedro off this list).  This year’s team was in playoff contention until early August, and showed that they can seriously compete in the near future.  Also, under Huntington, the organization has added a lot of talent to the system, including pitchers Jameson Taillon, Gerrit Cole, and Luis Heredia, along with outfielders Starling Marte and Josh Bell.  To have these types of players on our major league team and within our organization is definitely encouraging, and I expect to see major strides over the next few seasons.
    Over the past 19 years, the Pittsburgh Pirates have been far worse than disapointing, there’s no denying it.  But, the new management has done a fine job adding quality talent to the major league team and minor league system, and the city of Pittsburgh can finally see some bright spots heading into next season and beyond.