The Pittsburgh Pirates had a streaky 2018 season that exceeded expectations with 82 wins but still left them eight games out of a playoff spot.
The 2018 Pittsburgh Pirates were over .500 for the first time since their last postseason appearance in 2015. Still, it wasn’t enough to be competitive in a division that included the Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals. The Brewers led the NL in wins. The Cubs were second. The Cardinals were sixth.
The Pirates were tied for seventh in wins in the NL and finished fourth in their division behind the Brewers, Cubs and Cards, but well ahead of the last-place Cincinnati Reds. Despite their fourth-place finish, they exceeded expectations with a record of 82-79. Their average projection was for around 75 wins, which was similar to the previous two seasons. In 2017, the Pirates were 75-87. In 2016, they were 78-83.
The season started well. The Pirates won 11 of their first 14 games and were in first place in mid-April. Then they began a back-and-forth of winning streak and losing streaks for the next six weeks. They lost five straight from April 19 to April 25, then won five straight, then lost four straight. They had another five-game winning streak in early May, then two four-game losing streaks later in the Month.
This back-and-forth streakiness was also reflected in their monthly records. They were 17-12 in March/April, then 12-15 in May and 10-16 in June. Just when you thought the season was a lost cause, they went 17-9 in July, which included an 11-game winning streak that started before and ended after the All-Star break.
At the July 31 trade deadline, the Pirates were 56-52. They were six games back in the NL Central and three games out of a wild card spot. To the surprise of many, they actually made a mid-season trade to bolster the team. In fact, they made two trades. More on those trades later.
Once again, just when Pirates fans had some hope again for 2018, the team flopped, going 10-17 in August, which included one stretch in which they lost nine of eleven. Of course, they recovered to go 16-10 in September because that’s just how this team was. In March/April, July and September, the Pirates were 50-31 (.617). In May, June and August, they were 32-48 (.400).
It’s hard to know what to make of this team. At times, they looked like contenders. At other times, they looked a few years away from contention. For the most part, fans didn’t buy in. The Pirates’ attendance dropped by 454,000 fans, which was the sixth-biggest drop in baseball. The five teams with bigger drops in attendance averaged 101 losses.
We’ll look at what went right and what went wrong, but first let’s look at some of the big moves they made before the season began.