{"id":48531,"date":"2025-05-23T11:21:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T11:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/48531\/"},"modified":"2025-05-23T11:21:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T11:21:09","slug":"2025-pirates-are-an-auto-fade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/48531\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 Pirates Are an Auto-Fade"},"content":{"rendered":"

In January, I wrote<\/a> that I believed the 2025 Pittsburgh Pirates would win one more game than the 2024 vintage. A full season of Paul Skenes and a starting rotation that boasted a better top-three than any other NL Central team would help the cause.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I even wrote last month<\/a> that the Pirates would hit a hot streak at some point, string together some wins, and go over the then-adjusted win total of 67.5\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry. I couldn\u2019t handicap the chasm this year\u2019s Pirates have fallen into, and I don\u2019t know if there is or will be a bottom. According to FanDuel Sportsbook\u2019s latest MLB odds<\/a>, the Pirates\u2019 win total is now 64.6 and juiced to the under (-120).<\/p>\n

A dark shroud hangs over this year\u2019s roster, and we must now accept that the 2025 Pittsburgh Pirates are not just bad but have a chance to be historically bad.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Skenes for Cy Young? Not So Fast<\/p>\n

Paul Skenes remains a +240 favorite to win the 2025 NL Cy Young. That\u2019s far too low a number, even at this early part of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Bucs are a cratering franchise with a 17-33 record and a 3-7 record when Skenes starts. It\u2019s not Skenes\u2019 fault. Pittsburgh ranks dead last in runs scored per game (2.92) this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Skenes\u2019 frustration oozes from his pores, and how could it not? His last start was a complete game 1-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, where the Pirates totaled six hits. Losses like these won\u2019t help Skenes\u2019 Cy Young chances at the end of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The pitcher with the juiciest NL Cy Young odds is the New York Mets\u2019 Kodai Senga. The third-year starter is 4-3 with a 1.43 ERA and 47 Ks. His odds of winning the award are +3500.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Slip-Sliding Away and Under<\/p>\n

Pirates\u2019 brass fired manager Derek Shelton earlier this month, throwing him under the bus for the team\u2019s ugly start. Yes, Shelton deserved his dismissal with a 306-440 record. Yet, the 2025 Pirates lineup can barely be considered worthy of the Major Leagues.<\/p>\n

What was Shelton to do?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Regardless, the Bucs haven\u2019t found anything close to a spark from new manager Don Kelly. The Bucs are 4-7 since Kelly took control, and aren\u2019t trending in the right direction. A month has passed since the Pirates\u2019 offense scored more than four runs in a game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Given the Pirates\u2019 poor offensive output and the general malaise lingering over the team and its fanbase, a 100-loss season looks like a lock. Bet under 64.5 wins at -120.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No Superstars, Big Problem<\/p>\n

For the Pirates to have had any chance at a playoff spot in 2025, they needed Oneil Cruz to break out and become the power hitter we thought he\u2019d be.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So far, that mighty potential hasn\u2019t shown. Cruz is currently 100-to-1 to lead the MLB in home runs. While I didn\u2019t expect Aaron Judge-like numbers from Cruz, he\u2019s currently at a 30 HR pace over a full season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

30 home runs is pretty darn good, but not good enough to overcome the rest of the lineup\u2019s offensive deficiencies. Cruz is also hitting .221.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps I\u2019m being a bit too hard on Cruz. He does lead MLB with 18 stolen bases and is on pace for a 30\/30 season despite the abject misery surrounding him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yeah, Cruz isn\u2019t the problem, but he won\u2019t catch Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani<\/a> for the home run crown. I\u2019d rather put money on the Phillies\u2019 Kyle Schwarber (+700), who\u2019s tied with Ohtani with 17 dingers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In January, I wrote that I believed the 2025 Pittsburgh Pirates would win one more game than the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2402],"tags":[5,3203,44,4,1330,877,10,776,64,4297],"class_list":{"0":"post-48531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-pirates","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-fanduel","10":"tag-featured","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-oneil-cruz","13":"tag-paul-skenes","14":"tag-pirates","15":"tag-pittsburgh","16":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","17":"tag-pittsburghpirates"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114556888078846894","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}