Spoobir
Thread of the Month March 2018
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2007
After months of speculation the time has finally arrived to answer the question on every baseball follower's lips: How will the new look Pittsburgh Pirates fair in the Major Leagues after their takeover by PlanetCricket Corp?
Meet The Team
Catcher Chris Snyder is the only previous Pirate to retain his spot in the side with every other position being occupied by a new talent. The team looks well balanced offensively with Choie and Lee posing a significant speed threat on the bases and players such as Ikram and Hedger able to land the big blows. How they will fair defensively remains to be seen but some athletic ability was shown in the middle infield by Shortstop Coldhill and Second Baseman Rustagi during spring training bodes well for them in the regular season.
On the pitching side Ohlendorf and Correia keep their place in the starting rotation alongside new blood Ross, Twentyten and the extravagantly named X-Factor Jones. The Pirates retain much of their original bullpen with closing pitcher Papa Smurf the only new addition. The relief pitching could well prove to be the weakest link in this new look side so it will be interesting to see how things play out in the coming months.
Spring Training Success
Unarguably the most encouraging sign for the club was their exceptional perfomance in spring training whether they finished in second place in the Grapefruit League, just 3.5 games behind Boston Red Sox with a win% of well over .600. If they can keep this sort of form going into the regular season, there's no reason to think they won't be able to push for a playoff spot in October.
The Road Ahead
And so we look ahead to the month of April and the start of the regular season. The Pirates hit the road first up with 3 game series against the Cubs followed by the Cardinals before returning home to take on the Rockies in a best of 4 clash.
Opening day could well set the tone for the rest of the season for this fledgling team and a good start will no doubt be vital as starting pitcher Mike Ross takes on the Cubs' Matt Garza at Wrigley Field, don't miss it!
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