Pirates Ranked Worst Franchise of Last 25 Years
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PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates have had little success during the 21st century, amongst the least in the MLB.
Stephen J. Nesbitt of The Athletic ranked all 30 MLB franchises over the course of the past 25 years and placed the Pirates in last place.
He used a ranking system with nine points for winning the World Series, six points for losing in the World Series, three points for losing in the Championship Series, two points for losing in the Division Series and one point for losing in the Wild Card Round.
Teams also earned an extra point for winning their division title and also lost a point for consecutive seasons with 90 losses.
The Pirates endured the longest consecutive streak of seasons below .500 from 1993-2012, 20 seasons long, with 13 of these seasons taking place in this list. They also have had just four winning seasons during that time as well, with an NLDS appearance in 2013 and Wild Card appearances in 2014 and 2015.
Pittsburgh had eight instances of 90 consecutive losing seasons, one from 2000-01, six from 2005-11 and one from 2021-22.
This gave the Pirates the only negative rating for any MLB team, -4, seven points behind the next worst team, the Baltimore Orioles, who had three points at No. 29.
Nesbitt wrote on the poor past for the Pirates, but that the fans deserve more from the front office after a low-spending offseason.
"New time frame or not, the Pirates are still in the negative," Nesbitt wrote. "Pittsburgh has been to the playoffs just three times since 1992, and advanced to the Division Series only once. It remains a tough time to be a Bucco fan. We don’t need to belabor that point.
"With Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, Mitch Keller and prospect Bubba Chandler, the Pirates' rotation could keep them competitive in 2025. But a playoff run would require a series of breakouts and bouncebacks in a lineup that underwhelms on paper.
"This offseason, the Pirates brought back Andrew McCutchen and Adam Frazier, signed Tommy Pham and traded for now-injured Spencer Horwitz. Fans had hoped for far more than that."
Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.