The Pittsburgh Pirates were swept by the Milwaukee Brewers this weekend, dropping them to 6-6, and a .500 record for the first time since April 19th of last season. While looking that up, I noticed the Pirates also started off 6-6 last year. I couldn’t help but notice a lot of other trends that have been similar this year. Let’s take a look.
Record
2014: 6-6
2013: 6-6
Run Differential
2014: 44 scored, 43 allowed
2013: 40 scored, 47 allowed
The offense has scored more runs this year, and the pitching staff has allowed fewer runs. The latter is probably due to there being no Jonathan Sanchez in the rotation. The former isn’t a significant jump, and the Pirates are still a pretty weak offense, currently tied for 24th in baseball with the Rays in runs scored. That’s not a big surprise, since they looked to be building on pitching and defense once again this season.
Home/Road
2014: 4-2 Home, 2-4 Road
2013: 4-2 Home, 2-4 Road
Andrew McCutchen
2014: .707 OPS
2013: .833 OPS
McCutchen struggled in April last year, but most of that came in the second half of the month. He dropped down to a season-low .654 OPS on April 29th, then exploded in the month of May and never looked back. I’d expect the same this year.
Travis Snider
2014: .789 OPS
2013: .819 OPS
Snider had a good month of April, finishing with a .799 OPS. Things fell apart for him in May, and never really recovered until his pinch-hitting performances in September. So while he’s off to a good start so far this year, I’ll be waiting to see what he’s doing a month from now.
The Similarities
I think what we can take away from this is that two weeks of baseball really tells us nothing. I don’t think anyone is predicting 94 wins for the Pirates right now, based on this current start. But the Pirates won 94 games last year with a start that was similar, if not slightly worse. Does this mean they’re going to win 94 again this year? Unlikely. It just means that there’s only so much the first two weeks of the season can tell you.
Links and Notes
**Week In Review: Gregory Polanco is On Fire; More Minor League Injuries
**Prospect Watch: Irwin and Rodriguez Have Bad Starts, Polanco Continues Streak
**Minor League Schedule: Sadler Looks To Repeat Success
**Update on Luis Heredia’s Shoulder
**Draft Prospect Watch: Jake Stinnett Makes Huge Jump From Last Year
**Prospect Highlights: Gregory Polanco’s Second Homer of the Year
