Coming off their best winter in years, the Pittsburgh Pirates have plenty of reasons to be excited for this season. Between all their new additions and the potential breakouts of Konnor Griffin, Bubba Chandler and Jhostynxon Garcia, the Pirates appear poised for their best season in a while.
After struggling to score runs last season, Pittsburgh seriously addressed its offense this winter by adding former All-Stars Brandon Lowe, Ryan O’Hearn and Marcell Ozuna to its lineup. The Pirates are also banking on rebound years from Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz.
Ultimately, Pittsburgh’s season will hinge on how well its new offense performs, according to Pirates beat writer Jason Mackey of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
During his appearance on MLB Network last week, Mackey revealed what Pittsburgh needs to be successful this season.
“The offense, the offense and the offense,” Mackey told Matt Vasgersian on MLB Tonight: The Insiders. “These guys have pitching. They have a very good starting rotation. I think Ben Cherington’s done an excellent job building out the bullpen…and the offense wasn’t nearly good enough last season. If they can score…this is potentially a playoff team.”
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The Pirates ranked last in runs, home runs and OPS last year, so they have nowhere to go but up. If they can be closer to a league-average offense this year and give their pitching staff more run support, that will make a huge difference for a team that went 25-35 in one-run games last season.
“If they’re very good, I think it’s gonna be because of the offense…it’s gonna have to be the offense,” Mackey added.
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Pittsburgh ranked seventh in ERA last year, so pitching wasn’t the issue. If the Pirates want to take a step forward this season, it has to come from their lineup.
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