This afternoon I was looking at information about the Pirates on baseball-alamanac.com and I discovered some interesting facts. Check it out for yourself here. It lists all the 100+ win seasons and all the 100+ loss seasons. The last 100 loss season came in 2001 under Lloyd McClendon. The Pirates’ unfortunate performance this season led me to wonder whether they would be able to avoid the dubious distinction this year. At the time of this writing, the Pirates’ record stands at 43-73, for a total of 116 games played thus far this season. Given that the season is 162 games long, this leaves 46 to be played. With 73 losses so far, the Pirates can lose at most 26 more games and still remain below the 100 loss threshold. This means they need to win at least 20 of the 46 games that remain, for a win percentage of .435. Right now the Pirates’ win percentage for the whole season sits at .371 while their win percentage since the All-Star Break sits at .500. I’m hopeful that the Pirates will be able to avoid the sting of a 100+ loss season and given their performance since the All-Star Break, I don’t think this hope is unfounded.
12
Aug
06
[Insert Witty Title Here] 
Yeah, you definitely want to avoid that dreaded 100-loss season if at all possible. The good thing is the Pirates will probably start bringing up a bunch of minor leaguers who have something to prove in the bigs. That’s often enough to spark a team and get them winning again in the role of spoiler.
The Pirates have a great and proud history as winners, not spoilers. It\’s time that the ownership and management begin to respect the history of the franchise and do something to break the string of losing seasons. The Pirates\’ ownership and management are the real spoilers here.
AMEN Colin