A season to forget
What to make of the 2020 Pittsburgh Pirates season?
In a year marred by a worldwide pandemic that forced economic shutdowns and delayed or canceled several sports seasons, Major League Baseball endured more than its share of upheaval. The usual 162game season was reduced to a mere 60 games starting in late July, games were played in empty ballparks and the entire minor league season was canceled. And some teams sat idle for days or weeks when COVID- 19 infections forced cancellations.
In short, it may have been the strangest season in baseball’s long history.
Against that backdrop, with an obvious lack of talent confronting a new manager, general manager and team president, expectations for the Pirates were exceedingly low. Unfortunately, the team lived down to those expectations.
At 19- 41, the Pirates were the only team that failed to hit the 20- win mark, posting the worst record in baseball with a .317 winning percentage. ( At least they avoided the franchiseworst mark of a .273 percentage posted by the infamous 1952 squad.)
So perhaps a shortened season without fans was a blessing in disguise. Having to endure several long losing streaks and poor on- field performance was difficult enough to watch on television, let alone in person.
And a season with low expectations also afforded manager Derek Shelton the opportunity to take a look at younger players who may offer some hope for the future. Ke’Bryan Hayes had the type of Major League debut players dream of; pitchers Mitch Keller and J. T. Brubaker showed glimpses of promise.
The problem, and one team management acknowledges, is that there is simply a lack of talent in the Pirates farm system, which general manager Ben Cherington promises to address.
For Pirates fans, that means a rebuilding effort that will likely stretch over a few seasons, at minimum. And rebuilding usually travels in tandem with losses — many of them.
It would be unfair to judge the Pirates’ new management team on this most- unusual season, so we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that better days are ahead. In the meantime, the one quality fans will need is patience — and lots of it.