Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pirates will be making their 2011 PNC Park debut today at 1:30 pm against the Colorado Rockies.

This is arguably the first opener that has had a buzz since the stadium opened in 2001. The Pirates are bringing a 4-2 record home to Pittsburgh.

This team is still a work in progress.

The baseball season isn't even a week old yet. They have only played six games out of 162. The weather in Pittsburgh hasn't even broke 60 degrees yet. We know that.

The Pittsburgh Pirates' failures in the recent past have hidden pockets of isolated strength. For instance, in 2006, Jason Bay was a true star, and Freddy Sanchez was the league-leading hitter, but the pitching was spotty (except for after the All-Star game, when the Bucs actually went 37-35 for a winning "half" season).

March 31 was the start of the 2011 Major League Baseball season. The hot dog and beer vendors were all stocked up and ready to serve. The grass was freshly cut, and the freshly laid lime was a pearly white. Tens of thousands of extremely excited fans were all lined up at the turn-styles waiting to have their tickets scanned. 

But for me, my stomach was the only thing turning that day. 

When people around the Pittsburgh area heard that Andrew McCutchen was going to be batting third in the Pirates batting order, some people were skeptical. He is by far the Pirates fastest player and possibly the fastest man in Major League Baseball.

Wouldn't a guy like this be better if he were batting leadoff?

If you forgot that the Pittsburgh Pirates were a Major League team, I don't blame you.

Being a Pirates fan is possibly the most difficult job in sports. The only thing I would consider worse would be being a fan of the Seattle Supersonics or the Montreal Expos or some other team that left right in front of your eyes.

The last time the Pirates finished with more wins than losses was 1992. I was four years old. Yes, you read that correctly. Four years old!

These are the five reasons/ways the Pirates will make the playoffs this season.

If the Pirates make the playoffs, the city of Pittsburgh will go crazy. This is a city that is deserving of a great baseball team.

I have no doubt that if the Pirates were good, the seats would be full. They had a better attendance a year ago than the Rays, which is absurd.

A lot of Penguins fans jumped on the bandwagon of Sidney Crosby and the new-look Penguins.

I have no doubt that the same thing would happen if the Pirates were good.

The Pirates are in the midst of 18 consecutive losing seasons, and that number will most likely hit 19 after this season. 

They scored the fewest runs in the NL last season, and also gave up the most.  That equaled to a minus-279 run differential.

There are glimmers of hope, and it starts with Andrew McCutchen, the best center fielder in baseball.  They also have some other young studs in Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata and Neil Walker.  

ALSO CHECK OUT

When the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired Charlie Morton from the Atlanta Braves as part of the controversial Nate McLouth trade in 2009, it was a very unpopular trade to say the least.

Not only did the Pirates trade away a fan favorite and arguably their best player, they received more minor league prospects in return—that concept has been occurring way too often in Pittsburgh.  

Maybe just maybe, that trade wasn't so lopsided after all.

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

Pittsburgh Pirates’ third baseman Pedro Alvarez displayed impressive power in his rookie season, whacking 16 HRs in just 347 at-bats.

Neil Walker is a player that many fantasy owners have seemingly fallen in love with. 

Obviously, they don’t view him as a top option, but as a fallback choice should they miss out on their chosen target. 

My question is, exactly what is it that has people so excited?

First of all, just look at his 2010 production: