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Is There Any Cavalry Coming For The Pirates?
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a disaster. In year two of Paul Skenes, the Pirates are off to their worst start in years and are currently on pace for one of the worst seasons in franchise history. They are 14 games under .500 at 12-26. They are in the basement of the NL Central. They are…
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Trading George Pickens Is An Incredibly Dumb Idea
The months long saga surrounding the future of wide receiver George Pickens is finally over. The Pittsburgh Steelers are sending him to the Dallas Cowboys in a deal that is expected to net the Steelers draft picks in return. The Steelers are getting a 2026 third round pick and a 2027 fifth round pick, while…
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Here’s The “Thing” With Paul Skenes
As things fall apart with the Pittsburgh Pirates, their pitching ace and one of the new faces of this franchise, Paul Skenes, has gotten dragged into some of the criticism surrounding this team. The man who the Pirates took with the first overall pick in the summer of 2023 is now in his second major…
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What The Draft Lottery Results Mean For The Penguins
Well that was a little confusing, wasn’t it? For the first time ever, the NHL held their Draft Lottery live on television as they unveiled how the first round would shake out for the 16 teams that did not make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Pittsburgh Penguins had good reason to watch tonight. They sat…
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Dennis Santana Is Still A Rare Bright Spot On This Team
It’s getting harder and harder to find anything that is going well with the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are 12-23 on the year. They are coming off a disastrous homestand that saw them lose two of three to their NL Central rivals in Chicago and a clean sweep against them by the San Diego Padres. They…
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Penguins Will Get More Flexibility With Retained Contracts Expiring
(Featured photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) It’s never too early to think about the offseason. Well, if your team didn’t make the playoffs, that is. For the third straight season, the Pittsburgh Penguins missed out on the Stanley Cup Playoffs, finishing 34-36-12 and seventh in the Metropolitan Division. They have since parted ways with head…
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The 100-Loss Seasons Started Off Better Than This
Last night, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost again. Like the game before, they were able to keep it close until the dying innings, eventually falling 9-4 to the San Diego Padres at home. Mitch Keller was charged with the loss and the Padres hung three earned runs on the usually reliable Caleb Ferguson in the eighth…
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The Pleasant Surprise That Is Chase Shugart
Amidst their quiet and underwhelming offseason, the Pittsburgh Pirates and general manager Ben Cherington made a trade that aimed to bolster their bullpen depth. Even in an offseason that had Spencer Horwitz as the Pirates’ big trade acquisition and Tommy Pham as their big fish in free agency, a trade in January with the Boston…
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Pirates Lose Rubber Match In Don Kelly-Managed Game
There were a few abnormalities at the ballpark today. The first was an influx of kids at PNC Park today for a Thursday afternoon during the school year. The storm that swept through much of western Pennsylvania Tuesday night has left many neighborhoods and schools still without power. What better way to celebrate the off…
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Penguins Bring Back Filip Hallander Once Again
Earlier this week, the Pittsburgh Penguins announced that they signed forward Filip Hallander to a two-year contract. Per the team, Hallander’s contract starts with the 2025-26 season and carries a $775K cap hit at the NHL level. For Hallander, this is now his third stint with the Penguins organization. Hallander has had an extremely on-again,…
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Is It Time To Give Nick Solak A Try?
(Featured photo from the Indianapolis Indians’ Twitter/X page) The Pittsburgh Pirates are one of the worst offensive teams in Major League Baseball. They are slashing .224/.304/.341 as a team so far in 2025. None of those categories rank higher than 23rd in Major League Baseball, and their slugging percentage is a bottom three mark in…
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My Thoughts On The Mike Sullivan Decision
(Featured photo from the Penguins’ social media) On Monday morning, Penguins president of hockey operations and general manager Kyle Dubas made a shocker of an announcement. Per the team, the Penguins and head coach Mike Sullivan have agreed to part ways. “On behalf of Fenway Sports Group and the Penguins organization, I would like to…
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The Story Of The Piratical Mark Baldwin
In discussing how the Pittsburgh Pirates got their name, the Lou Bierbauer incident is often chalked up as the reason why. In 1890, a rebellion league known as the Players’ League formed, and consisted of nearly all members of the and nearly every star player from The Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players, a very…
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How Much Of An Impact Can Spencer Horwitz Make?
(Featured photo by Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images) Spencer Horwitz just checked off an important box on the journey to making his Pittsburgh Pirates debut. The 27-year-old started a rehab assignment today with Pittsburgh’s Double-A affiliate, the Altoona Curve. Batting lead off and playing his native first base, Horwitz earned a walk in his first plate…
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Five Steelers Takeaways From The 2025 NFL Draft
The NFL Draft is now officially over. Over the last three days, the Pittsburgh Steelers made seven total picks, leaning heavily on the defensive side of the ball as they try and bulk up their roster ahead of the 2025 season. A lot of what the Steelers were expected to do didn’t happen. They didn’t…
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Have The Pirates Found Their New Leadoff Hitter In Oneil Cruz?
Last season, the Pittsburgh Pirates had a pretty good idea of who their leadoff hitter was. Nine players occupied that spot in the order at least once during the year, but Andrew McCutchen led off 81 games for the Pirates last season. That number was more than twice the second-place man, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who took…
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Revisiting The Last Time Derek Shelton Played The Same Lineup Twice
(Featured photo is from the Pirates’ lineup graphic on Twitter/X) Folks, we live in a world where anything is possible. Gabriel Landeskog jump back into playoff hockey after missing nearly three years on the ice. Katy Perry can go to freaking space. And yes, even Derek Shelton can occasionally play the same exact lineup twice…
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Four Penguins Prospects To Watch As AHL Playoffs Kick Off
The Pittsburgh Penguins might not be competing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the organization is still in the running for a few trophies. Pittsburgh’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and their East Coast Hockey League affiliate, the Wheeling Nailers, are both in their respective playoffs this season. The Nailers are off to…
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Derek Shelton Needs To Play Andrew McCutchen Every Day
The Pittsburgh Pirates are an absolute mess. After a sweep at home at the hands of the Cleveland Guardians, the Pirates are now 8-15. Chants of “Sell The Team” rained down on them Saturday as they wasted a Paul Skenes start — on a day where his bobblehead drew a sellout crowd at PNC Park…
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Pirates Need Derek Shelton To Show Some Fire
On Saturday, in front of a sellout crowd, giveaway day, and a Paul Skenes start, the Pirates put up a complete dud. It was another day of inept offense and a waste of pretty good pitching. The “Sell The Team!” chants were back as Cleveland took their second straight game against the Pirates, 3-0. I…
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Creating A Team Of Former Penguins In The 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs
Saturday will mark the start of the best time of year on the sports calendar: the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Sadly, for us here in Pittsburgh, the Penguins will be watching alongside us on the couch for the third straight year. But many former Penguins players will embark on the quest for Lord Stanley’s prized trophy,…
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Opinion: Steelers Need To Have Some Pride And Forget Aaron Rodgers
Ever since Ben Roethlisberger retired, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been trying to fill the void left by their franchise quarterback. They thought they achieved that with relative ease in the subsequent offseason, when they signed Mitch Trubisky in free agency and drafted Kenny Pickett in the first round of the 2022 draft. Trubisky was supposed…
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Pirates Have To End The Carmen Mlodzinski As Starter Experiment
The starting rotation was penned as the great strength of this Pittsburgh Pirates team heading into 2025. With an unproven bullpen, uninspiring offense, and questionable defense, the rotation was supposed to save this team and keep them afloat. It featured the reigning NL Rookie of the Year in Paul Skenes, a promising sophomore arm in…
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Opinion: No Reason Why Ville Koivunen Shouldn’t Get Top Line Minutes For Remainder Of Season
The Pittsburgh Penguins have made a flurry of roster moves over the last 24 hours. Early yesterday morning, the Penguins called up a trio of forwards, all on an “emergency” bases. Emil Bemström, Vasily Ponomarev, and Valtteri Puustinen have all joined the team as the Penguins look to close out their final handful of games…
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I’m Still Fine With The Nick Yorke/Quinn Priester Trade
Yesterday, former Pirates pitcher Quinn Priester was involved in a bit of a shocking trade. Priester, a former first round selection by the Pirates back in 2019, started this season in the Boston Red Sox organization. He made one start this year for Triple-A Worcester, where he threw four innings and allowed two earned runs…
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Joey Wentz Providing Key Work Early For Pirates
To say that the Pirates’ bullpen is a mess might be the understatement of the year. Just ten games and a week and a half into their season, their closer David Bednar is no longer on the roster. Having allowed three earned runs in as many appearances (but only recording three total outs), Bednar was…
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Passion Goes Both Ways
Opening Day is exciting, but when your teams starts the season on the road, it is definitely tempered down a little bit. Instead of having a shiny, untouched record and holding a grand ceremony in front of your own fans, you start the season at some other ballpark, watching some other team celebrate the start…
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Play The Kids
Mike Sullivan’s handling of young players has long been a controversial topic in this town. Now nearly a decade in on the job, Sullivan’s roster is not what it once was. Far from the days where Sullivan was behind the bench of Stanley Cup winning teams, where young guns like Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust…
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Pirates Taking A Worthy Swing With Alexander Canario
Not a lot is going the Pittsburgh Pirates’ way to open the year. They dropped three of four in their season opening series against the Marlins in Miami, and their efforts to rebound against Tampa Bay started off with a harsh 6-1 loss. Their offense is atrocious to start, with the Pirates averaging a measly…
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Winners And Losers From Pittsburgh’s Series In Miami
I’m not going to lie to you my friends, that was some pretty bad baseball I watched this week. All the excitement and anticipation for a new baseball season took a brutal beating over the first four games of the year, with the Pirates dropping three of four games to one of the very few…
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Is There A Pirates Lineup Graphic Curse?
Today is the day. Baseball season is finally here, and before the first pitch of the 2025 season is thrown, I wanted to take a look back on a project that encompasses every game of the previous year. Before every Pittsburgh Pirates game, the team’s social media account on Twitter/X posts a graphic detailing their…
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There’s More Opportunities From Triple-A To The Big Leagues Than You May Think
With the Pirates just hours away from having to finalize their major league roster, many of the decisions and who will start the year on the major league roster for the Pirates are already known. Aside from the semi-shocking details like Endy Rodriguez, who in addition to being the backup catcher will also be the…
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Piratical Reunion Tour Falls Flat In Pittsburgh In 1891
The Pittsburgh Burghers are no more. A year after the revolutionary creation of the Players’ League in 1890, everyone was pretty much back to where they were. The PL had the talent, they had the fans, and they had one of their main competitors, the American Association, on the ropes. But the one thing they…
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Who Is Javier Rivas? Meet Tuesday’s Spring Training Hero
The Pittsburgh Pirates entered the ninth inning of Tuesday’s afternoon game against the Philadelphia Phillies down 2-0. At LECOM Park, the Pirates had one final chance to stage a comeback and win one of the final games of spring training. Nick Solak kicked things off with a single off Phillies righty Devin Sweet. DJ Stewart,…
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The Penguins Prospect That No One Is Talking About
(Featured photo from the Pittsburgh Penguins’ official Twitter/X account) For the first time in truly a generation, there are actual Penguins prospect to talk about. Prospects. Plural! And while the Penguins, under the guidance of general manager Kyle Dubas, are starting the lengthy and likely painful transition from one era to another, the Penguins are…
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Losing Najee Harris Hurts, But It Is Manageable
What was long speculated has finally come true: Najee Harris will not be a Pittsburgh Steeler in 2025. The organization’s first round pick from 2021 had the fifth year option in his rookie year declined by the Steelers last year, setting up a potential final season in Pittsburgh for the Alabama product. As the season…
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Going Better/Worse On ZiPS Projections, Pirates Starters Edition
Well, I looked at the projections for the batters, so I might as well do it for the pitchers. Last week, I looked at the ZiPS projections for Pirates batters and made my best prediction on whether they’d be over or under on some key statistics, like batting average and OPS. You can find the…
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Pirates Make Nifty Waiver Claim With Justin Lawrence
For one of the very few times this winter, the Pittsburgh Pirates have done something that was met with near universal praise. The Pirates have reportedly claimed right-handed reliever Justin Lawrence off waivers from the Colorado Rockies today, adding him to a crowded field of contenders for their bullpen jobs. Lawrence is coming off of…
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Going Over/Under On ZiPS Projections, Batters Edition Part 2
A few days ago, I started doing an over/under on the ZiPS projected stats for Pirates batters. In that list I covered seven names: Bryan Reynolds, Oneil Cruz, Spencer Horwitz, Jack Suwinski, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Nick Yorke, and Billy Cook. Today, I’ll be doing the second half of the batters, deciding whether I think each player…
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Going Over/Under On ZiPS Projections, Batters Edition Part 1
Projections are such an interesting thing in any sport. But in baseball we pay far more attention to the preseason projections than in any other sport. The ZiPS projections are a popular outlet for preseason player projections, and as spring training heats up and we start to get a look at virtually every player in…
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The History Of Ben Cherington’s Left-Handed Pitcher Signings
(Featured photo by Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images) Death, taxes, and Ben Cherington signing a left-handed pitcher in free agency. The Pirates general manager and Andrew Heaney have reportedly agreed on a one-year, $5 million deal, per Robert Murray. Heaney is coming off of a weird season with the Texas Rangers, where he went 5-14 with…
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The Pirates Should Take A Flyer On Craig Kimbrel. Here’s Why
Pitchers and catchers for the Pittsburgh Pirates will report to Bradenton, Florida for spring training starting next week. After a disappointing season that saw the Pirates waste the dominance of NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes and finish the season 76-86, the Pirates and their fans are hoping this is finally the year where…
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Immediate Thoughts And Reaction To The Marcus Pettersson Deal
Wowza, that’s a big trade. In case you haven’t seen, let’s break down the deal between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Vancouver Canucks on what has been a very busy night in the NHL. To Vancouver: To Pittsburgh: The conditional pick that the Penguins’ acquired actually belongs to the New York Rangers, who completed a separate…
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Four Under The Radar Pirates I Am Super Excited To Watch In 2025
Spring training is getting pretty close. Pitchers and catchers for the Pirates report on February 12th, and it won’t be long until we are seeing both old and new faces playing in Grapefruit League games down in Florida. Here in Pittsburgh, it is a little hard to get as psyched as we should be about…
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Here’s How I Would Handle The Trade Deadline For The Penguins
The trade deadline has started rather early this season. Last night, hockey fans were treated to a true blockbuster deal, when the Colorado Avalanche sent Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes for a package that included Marty Necas and Jack Drury. But while the NHL’s trade deadline isn’t until March 8th, this season offers a…
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2025 Is A Make Or Break Year For Henry Davis
Over Ben Cherington’s six-year run as general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, his club has picked first overall two times. His most recent one, Paul Skenes, was a home run pick. Skenes, the NL Rookie of the Year in 2024, has already established himself as one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, and…
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Three Potential Solutions To The Tristan Jarry Situation
Saying this year has not gone to plan would be quite the understatement for Tristan Jarry. From a season debut that saw him get lit up for six goals against the New York Rangers, to being sent to the American Hockey League on a conditioning stint, to having career lows across the board, to now…
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The Philip Tomasino Trade Is Kyle Dubas’ Mantra At Its Finest
Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas has a pretty difficult job. Some of that is self-inflicted. By trying to execute the “rebuild on the fly” technique as he presides over the team, Dubas is holding himself in a pattern that is often sought after, but rarely actually able to work — keep the team competitive…
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How Lucky We Are: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Wild Card Loss
I’m breaking the rules one more time. Yes, this has the Five Thoughts name and yes that is technically a lie, but the only way I can figure out how to write my genuine, honest thoughts on this game is to kind of just ramble along. I changed up the format one other time during…
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Saturday Will Be The Most Defining Moment Of George Pickens’ NFL Career
It’s been a trying year for Steelers wide receiver George Pickens. Now in his third NFL season, the former second round pick by Pittsburgh had racked up 850 receiving yards through 12 games and was on pace to hit a new career high. Then, a surprise hamstring injury struck Pickens, sidelining him for three weeks…
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Bungled: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 18 Loss
Ok, um. I’ll be honest, I don’t really know where to start. I don’t really know what to say. But, that’s sort of what I do around here, so, I guess I’ll have to figure it out. 1: On The Way To One-And-Done The Steelers played some of the most uninspired games of football I…
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The Two Best Goaltenders In The Penguins Organization Don’t Play In Pittsburgh
Goaltending has been a frequent topic of discussion surrounding the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ever since Matt Murray’s demise and subsequent trade in the 2020 offseason, the Penguins have suffered instability and poor play at the position. It has cost them on several playoff runs (think 2021 and 2022), and is one of their biggest weaknesses this…
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The Brotherhood And The Burghers: The Story Of Pittsburgh’s Players’ League Team
Baseball was in a tense place in the late 1880s. The older National League and the upstart American Association had been competing for eyes, money, and players ever since the latter was formed in 1882. Though the more established NL had the long-term upper hand, the AA remained a thorn in the side of the…
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Is Jesse Puljujärvi Getting Screwed Over By The Penguins?
Jesse Puljujärvi’s career is quite illustrious. From being a fourth overall pick in a highly energetic Canadian market, to getting banished to the south in Carolina, to a rocky journey in Pittsburgh, the latest step in Puljujärvi’s NHL journey is being placed on waivers by the Penguins. In 21 games for the Penguins this season,…
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Steelers’ Return Game Has Been Season-Long Issue
When the NFL announced the implementation of the new Dynamic Kickoff, the Steelers were one of the first teams to respond accordingly. Shortly after the rule change, which brought touchbacks to the 30-yard line and made any kick that landed in the new “landing zone” have to be returned, the Steelers signed Cordarrelle Patterson, one…
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Nightmare On Rooney Avenue: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 17 Loss
A lot of people outed themselves as drug users when they picked the Pittsburgh Steelers to beat the Kansas City Chiefs. Whatever they were on, I need some desperately after whatever I just watched on Christmas Day. I’m only half kidding, because while I did not think the Steelers had high chances of winning this…
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What Are Reasonable Expectations For Andrew McCutchen In 2025?
What has been long expected is finally official: Andrew McCutchen is back. He and the Pirates have agreed to a one year deal worth $5 million. His extension with the Pirates is identical to the deal he signed when he first re-joined the Pirates in 2023, and the one re-upped with the team last year.…
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Ravaged: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 16 Loss
We knew that this stretch of games towards the end of the season was going to be brutal. In particular, a three game run in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and then at home to face Kansas City was a cruel and unusual punishment for any NFL team to endure. The Steelers are 0-2 in that stretch so…
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