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  • Bryan Rust Is The Penguins’ X-Factor

    After a very rough start to the season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have started to right the ship as the NHL season nears the halfway point. After starting the season 3-7-1 and still being a measly 9-12-4 at the end of November, the Penguins have dragged themselves from the basement of the league standings and now…

  • Penguins Reunite With P.O. Joseph

    In a reunion I don’t think anyone saw coming, the Penguins have re-acquired defenseman P.O. Joseph from the St. Louis Blues. Going back to the Gateway to the West is the well-traveled future considerations, which is sure to get any Blues fan up out of their seats. With Marcus Pettersson now on Injured Reserve, the…

  • Playing A Sicko-Style Game With The 2020 Pittsburgh Pirates

    You can’t find a fanbase that is more traumatized than that of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Years upon years of helpless losing, watching star after star leave, and squandering what little opportunities they had will do that to anyone. So when it was announced that the Pirates were bringing back a blast from the past and…

  • Eagle Eyes: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 15 Loss

    Yesterday wasn’t the ideal start to the toughest three game stretch any NFL team will face this season. The Steelers haven’t won in Philadelphia since 1965, and that streak lives on as the Eagles disassembled Pittsburgh, 27-13. For the Steelers to win a game like this, they needed a defensive masterclass and to limit the…

  • Some Thoughts On The Spencer Horwitz Trade

    Last night, the Pirates gave us a shocker when they announced that the team had acquired Spencer Horwitz from the Cleveland Guardians. Horwitz, who was picked up by the Guardians just hours prior, spent last season with the Toronto Blue Jays. The deal, which involved three pitchers going back to the Guardians, saw the Pirates…

  • Elvis Alvarado Is A Low Risk, High Reward Signing

    Fans are getting restless. They are tired of the Pirates being all talk and no action. General manager Ben Cherington today said all the right things about improving the team and having higher expectations, but the team still sits with no real additions made. So understandably, there wasn’t an enthusiastic response when news broke that…

  • Why Roki Sasaki And The Pirates Are A Match Made In Heaven

    Alright, humor me for a few minutes. I know the likelihood of this is incredibly small. But if you can’t ever get excited about something like this why even live at all? So, allow me to tell you why Japanese star Roki Sasaki and the Pittsburgh Pirates are a match made in heaven. Sasaki is…

  • Slim Pickens: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 14 Win

    The Cleveland Browns have not swept the Pittsburgh Steelers in a season since 1988. That streak will last at least one more year, as the Steelers enacted revenge from their Thursday night loss two weeks ago and beat the Browns 27-14. Now at 10-3, the Steelers will head into the NFL’s daunting four-game stretch to…

  • Replacing Aroldis Chapman Is Difficult, But Not Impossible

    On Tuesday, free agent reliever Aroldis Chapman and the Boston Red Sox agreed on a one year, $10.75 million dollar contract, ensuring that the former Pirate isn’t coming back to Pittsburgh in 2025.  His new deal with the Red Sox — his seventh major league team and fifth in the last four years — was…

  • Shootout: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 13 Win

    Only the Pittsburgh Steelers could score 44 points in a game and still have their fans biting their nails in the final minutes. In a game that we definitely all saw coming, the Steelers won a complete shootout in Cincinnati with the Bengals, capping off the highest scoring NFL game this season, 44-38. It was…

  • A “Get Right” Game For Tristan Jarry

    I know, it looks lazy to have similar titles for the last two articles on this site. But allow me to explain. Wednesday night, I said that if, and a big emphasis on if, there was a chance for this Pittsburgh Penguins to claw back to relevancy this season, they needed to build on their…

  • If There Was Ever A “Get Right” Game For The Penguins, Thanksgiving Eve Was It

    Through injuries, subpar play, questionable coaching decisions, unreliable goaltending, and so many other things you could say, the Penguins entered their Thanksgiving Eve matchup with the Vancouver Canucks with only seven wins on the year. They’ve looked disastrous in almost every game they’ve played. They’ve showed no fight, no pushback, and no real way to…

  • Penguins Bring In Philip Tomasino In Change Of Scenery Deal

    It wasn’t the type of trade that perhaps a lot of Penguins fans have been hoping for, but the team has made a move. Earlier today, the team announced that they have acquired forward Philip Tomasino from the Nashville Predators in exchange for a 2027 fourth round pick. A lot has gone wrong in Nashville…

  • Two Truths And A Lie: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 12 Loss

    Alright, let’s get the lie out of the way early. There will not be five thoughts in this edition. At least, not in the traditional, numbered format. There will be many thoughts, probably even more than five. But to be perfectly candid, it would drive me insane to have this be titled differently than every…

  • The Penguins Prospect I Am Most Excited About

    Even if very slowly, the youth wave is starting to form here in Pittsburgh. The opening night roster did not have a large youth presence; only Rutger McGroarty and Valtteri Puustinen really fit into that category to start the season. But as the season has dragged along, the Penguins have promoted several young players from…

  • The Wizard Of Boz: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 11 Win

    It’s wild that it took us all the way until Week 11 for the first divisional game for the Pittsburgh Steelers this year, but after nine games on the ledger, a date with the Baltimore Ravens finally broke that streak. And it lived up to the name of AFC North football. By that, I mean…

  • Penguins Give Vasili Ponomarev Deserved Chance

    The Pittsburgh Penguins announced a series of roster moves earlier this morning. Heading back down to the American Hockey League is Joel Blomqvist, the defenseless rookie who has not experienced much help from the team in front of him. But, coming up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton are Matt Nieto, arriving from his conditioning stint in the AHL,…

  • Willowing In Washington: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 10 Win

    Heading into Sunday afternoon in Washington, Mike Tomlin was in an advantageous position. Since taking the head coaching gig of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tomlin was 13-4 coming out of the bye week and 25-6 all-time against rookie quarterbacks. But this was no typical game coming out of the bye week. And there was no ordinary…

  • A Look At Tristan Jarry’s AHL Conditioning Stint

    Tristan Jarry is officially back. In a duo of roster moves announced yesterday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Penguins recalled Jarry from his conditioning stint in the American Hockey League, as well as starting forward Matt Nieto on a conditioning stint as the latest step in activating him from Long Term Injured Reserve. Jarry, as we all…

  • What Are The Pirates Getting In Trey Cabbage?

    The offseason has officially begun, and the Pittsburgh Pirates are starting things off with some underwhelming moves. In their second addition of the break, the team claimed outfielder Trey Cabbage from the Houston Astros. Now, before I do a deep dive into Cabbage’s work and what I believe a potential Pirates tenure could look like,…

  • Penguins Honor Fleury, Who Steals The Show In Wild Win

  • Belittlement: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 8 Win

    Phew, we made it. I’ll be honest, that game was a lot closer than I would have liked it to be, but in the end the Steelers took care of business in Pittsburgh, and belittled the New York Giants 26-18. Pittsburgh moves to 6-2 on the back of their 22nd consecutive Monday Night Football win,…

  • Revisiting The Last Time The Penguins Beat The Oilers

    Well, last night was another ugly loss, as the Penguins fell to the Oilers in Edmonton 4-0. Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner pitched his first shutout of the season against an uninspired Penguins team that was thoroughly outplayed in every facet of the game. It was Pittsburgh’s seventh loss in a row against Edmonton, with the…

  • Steelers Should Be Aggressive In Cooper Kupp Sweepstakes

    The Steelers have to make a move at wide receiver. It’s something that literally all of us have been pounding the table for before the season even began. It has been an endless cycle of receivers that we have glommed onto and hoped that they could come to Pittsburgh and help solve our offensive problems.…

  • Beanie Baby: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 7 Win

    A primetime matchup. A halftime ceremony. Steeler legends in town. A former president in a suite. Career firsts on the offense and the defense. And the biggest decision of the season looming over the dark Pittsburgh sky. This game truly had everything. And at the end of the night, it had Najee Harris celebrating in…

  • Why Sending Rutger McGroarty To The AHL Will Benefit Him In The Long Run

    When Rutger McGroarty was in a dispute with his draft team, the Winnipeg Jets, he made his beliefs very clear. McGroarty believed he had the ability and the skill set to make the jump from college hockey straight to the National Hockey League.  McGroarty wanted to follow the same path that several of his University…

  • Jesse Puljujärvi Making A Strong Early Impression

    Last week, in one of my Take Four appearances for The Pitt News, I wrote that this is a make or break year for Jesse Puljujärvi. I very much believe that. The 26-year-old is heading into his eighth NHL year, and in the second of a two year contract he signed with the Penguins last…

  • Miracle In The Desert: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 6 Win

    After tough losses in back to back games, the Steelers rebounded yesterday in Vegas with their biggest win of the season. The Steelers hung 32 points on the Raiders, their biggest offensive output since Week 16 of last year. In many ways, this game was an anomaly: the Steelers defense was over-delivering for even fans…

  • After Solid NHL Debut, Penguins Should Get Joel Blomqvist More Involved

    The only positive to come out of last night’s 6-0 shellacking at the hands of the New York Rangers was that it was the first of a back-to-back. There was no time to dwell on a nightmare start to the season (one that tied the worst home opener loss in franchise history), because the Penguins…

  • Uninspired Penguins Get Shelled In Home Opener

    Opening Night is awesome. It’s a new season, played on the ultimate fresh sheet of ice. The excitement and energy of the upcoming campaign always has the building buzzing. If only that energy was seen on the ice… As soon as the puck dropped on the new season for the hometown team and the visiting…

  • Ghosts: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 5 Loss

    That’s the longest we’ve stayed up to watch a Steelers game in…well I don’t even know how long. But we probably would have been better off just going to sleep before 1AM anyways. After a late game drive that saw the Steelers go on top 17-13 in the fourth quarter, the defense could not hold…

  • A Primer To Follow Pirates Prospects In The Arizona Fall League

    Fall ball is officially here! Action in the Arizona Fall League kicks off today, as some of baseball’s best prospects meet out west in the sport’s off-season showcase. The Pittsburgh Pirates will have a big presence in Arizona this year, as some of their most discussed prospects will be suiting up and getting reps in…

  • Penguins Lose John Ludvig On Waivers

    It was a busy day on the waiver wire yesterday. In a day where 25 players were placed on waivers, the Pittsburgh Penguins made sweeping cuts to their preseason roster, waiving 6 players in the hopes of assigning them to their American Hockey League affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. That list coming out of Pittsburgh was headlined…

  • The Only ‘Clear Evidence’ That Ben Cherington Has Is That He Has Failed

    Though I’m sure there can always be some eleventh hour change of heart by the very top of Pirates brass, it sure seems as though both general manager Ben Cherington and manager Derek Shelton are staying.  At least, that’s the outlook that was given by the Pirates today at Cherington’s end of year press conference.…

  • Giving Out 2024 Pittsburgh Pirates Awards

    A few days ago, I listed out my five contenders for the most random Pittsburgh Pirate of the 2024 season. There’s a pretty good list this year on tap for this award, which you can read all about here. But now that the season is officially over, I want to give out some much more…

  • Inept In Indy: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 4 Loss

    This was a game of endless miscues. Frustrating, inexcusable, game-deciding miscues, and as a result, the Steelers will lose their first game of the season, falling to 3-1. The failed comeback attempt, led by Justin Fields and a surging offense, was admirable, but it quite frankly did not need to happen. Pittsburgh’s prized defense folded…

  • Who Was The Most Random Pirate In 2024?

    Random and obscure players have always been some of my favorite athletes to discuss. To me, part of the joy in writing about sports is getting to explore and cover the careers of the players who aren’t the biggest names on any given roster. If you’ve followed the Pirates for a while, you’ve been subjected…

  • Whatever You Think About The Rowdy Tellez Situation, The Fallout Was Entirely Avoidable…And That’s The Real Issue

    Yesterday was quite the day to be on Pirates Twitter/X, as the fallout from a shocking decision left this fanbase and the media very divided. The Pirates had announced that they were designating center fielder Michael A. Taylor and first baseman Rowdy Tellez for assignment. The minor league season is over, which means their seasons…

  • This Is Justin’s Job Now

    The Pittsburgh Steelers are 3-0. They sit atop the AFC North and have won all three games in a variety of different ways. Though their defense has been the dominating factor in all three, their offensive work has varied. Week 1 saw Chris Boswell turn into Superman and go 6/6 on field goals, half of…

  • Electric Feel: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 3 Win

    What. A. Win. Though the final score only shows a 20-10 win for the Steelers in their home opener against the Los Angeles Chargers, this was an amazing win by Pittsburgh to improve to 3-0 on the season. Yesterday might not have been the “breakout” game for the offense as a whole that Arthur Smith…

  • Five Bold Penguins Predictions For The 2024-25 Season

    Hockey is almost back! The preseason for the Pittsburgh Penguins got underway last night, with the Penguins sending a chunk of their training camp roster up to Buffalo for the first preseason game of the year. It’s been a long offseason, and a very interesting one for the Penguins. They were busy in the trade…

  • Pirates Recall Triple-A Team’s Pitcher Of The Year

    It’s another moving day for Jake Woodford, who found himself designated for assignment again by the Pirates before tonight’s game. Woodford was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis after his previous DFA’ing to pitch last night’s affair in St. Louis, where inn 4.2 innings he surrendered 4 earned runs and a homer. In his place, the team…

  • Would The Pirates Try Henry Davis In Right Field Again?

    It’s becoming a big question as we start to figure out what this Pittsburgh Pirates roster looks like in 2025.  Where is Henry Davis going to play? Though Davis has been largely awful, especially in the batting department, during his brief stints as a big leaguer, there’s no doubt that the former first overall pick…

  • Mile High Mania: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 2 Win

    In a sloppy, gritty, penalty-filled affair in the Mile High City, the Steelers should consider themselves lucky to have escaped with a 13-6 win against the Broncos. It wasn’t the Russell Wilson revenge game we all had circled on our calendars, as he was hampered by that calf injury and was declared the emergency third…

  • If Billy Cook Isn’t Playing Every Day, What Was The Point?

    Friday night is always a good night for a visit to the ballpark. No matter how good the team is performing…and they aren’t performing well.  The Pirates fell to 70-77 in their series opener against the Kansas City Royals. Luis Ortiz was lit up in the second inning as the Royals hung 6 on the…

  • Comparing Corliss Waitman To Pressley Harvin

    Corliss Waitman is back for another round with the Pittsburgh Steelers. After suffering three seasons of subpar performances at the punting position, the Steelers finally believed they had shored up that spot on special teams when they signed Cameron Johnston out of free agency. They may still have the answer for the future, but the…

  • Looking At Penguins PTOs From Last Year

    Fall is here, and the hockey season is right around the corner. Training camps around the NHL will be opening up in just a few weeks, and we are getting into an interesting point in the offseason. A lot of veteran players are still unsigned, and teams will be handing out some professional try outs…

  • King Boswell: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 1 Win

    It certainly wasn’t the way that the Steelers drew it up…like, at all, but the Steelers picked up a Week 1 win in Atlanta against the Falcons. Led by Justin Fields, who was confirmed to be taking over for an injured Russell Wilson just a few hours before kickoff, the Steelers strung together just enough…

  • Billy Cook Makes Immediate Impact In His Pirates Debut

    There was a ton of questioning going on yesterday when the Pirates played both games of a double header without having Henry Davis even make an appearance. As it turned out, Davis couldn’t. This morning, the team placed him on the 10-Day Injured List, retroactive to an injury suffered Thursday. In his place, however, we…

  • Naming New Penguin Captains

    As I admittedly do too often, I found myself scrolling down Twitter/X and came across a snippet of an article that mentioned Marcus Pettersson. I tracked this article down and found it in The Athletic. It was part of a larger state of the team-style piece written by Josh Yohe, which you can find here…

  • The Domingo Germán Experiment Is, Was, And Always Will Be A Ben Cherington Disaster

    Heading into his fifth year on the job, Ben Cherington was facing a media nightmare before the season began. The general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates had done his best to defend his highly controversial signing of pitcher Domingo Germán to a one year deal in free agency. Germán’s extremely concerning past had included a…

  • Pirates Claim A Lefty Off Waivers; A Quick Intro To Joey Wentz

    There’s a new arm in town. Well, he’ll be here eventually. The Pirates announced earlier today that they have claimed pitcher Joey Wentz off waivers from the Detroit Tigers. Since he has no options, the Pirates will be forced to make a corresponding move to their 28-man roster, but we’ll all have to be in…

  • Derek Shelton Is Merely Rearranging The Deck Chairs With David Bednar Decision

    Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton made a decision that many fans have been wanting, or have at least been open to, for months.  A few days ago, he told Pirates reporters that the team would be moving David Bednar out of the closer role, at least for the short term. Shelton didn’t commit to a…

  • Dennis Santana Has Been Lights Out Post-All Star Break

    Though the Pittsburgh Pirates are still mostly in a tailspin, and the calendar turning to September kicks off the final month of the season, one of the few still inspiring stories of this Pirates team is Dennis Santana. Santana, who was claimed off waivers from the New York Yankees back on June 11th, was coming…

  • Will Kyle Dubas Try And Swing A Deal For RFA Nick Robertson?

    It was a pretty underwhelming offseason in Toronto for the Maple Leafs. The changes that fans were yearning for, after yet another first round playoff exit, did not come. The Leafs are trying it at least one more time with their core four that accounts for over $45 million. The biggest stories of the hockey…

  • St. Louis Blues Buck NHL Norms, Publish Their Own Form Of CapFriendly

    The National Hockey League and its inner circle are often criticized for how little information they make publicly available. Finding anything above baseline player stats is very hard to do on the NHL’s own website. NHL Edge refuses to allow you to find the worst player in a particular category (unless you scroll through the…

  • Week 1 Steelers Starters You Might Have Forgot About

    NFL rosters are changing all the time. The last few days have been crazy. With the NFL regular season about to get underway, the most stressful time of year for fringe and unproven players is over. Training camp and preseason roster cuts are over, and teams have officially established their 53-man rosters. Every year’s new…

  • Pirates Announce A Stunner: Oneil Cruz Will Become A Center Fielder

    Pirates manager Derek Shelton made some big headlines today when he told reporters that the team plans to move shortstop Oneil Cruz to the outfield. With Nick Gonzales returning to the active roster today (along with Jared Jones), he will reclaim the second base spot, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa will take over at shortstop. Cruz, meanwhile,…

  • One Key Difference That Henry Davis Needs To Build Upon In Latest Recall

    Folks, he’s back. Per Andrew Destin, the Pirates are recalling former first overall pick Henry Davis in the wake of Joey Bart’s hamstring injury. Bart will go on the Injured List in a corresponding move. Davis was expected to be one of several players called up by the Pirates once the calendar flipped to September,…

  • The Writing Is On The Wall For Michael A. Taylor

    The Pirates made a LOT of player moves yesterday, at multiple levels of their organization. At the major league level, the team selected the contract of Brady Feigl, recalled Henry Davis from Triple-A, and placed veteran outfielder Michael A. Taylor on outright waivers. None of these moves were things anyone saw coming (except for maybe…