In the final rankings for Buster Olney, he picked the top ten teams in baseball(subscription required). The Pirates received top ten rankings for their rotation, bullpen and defense, while getting the top overall spot for outfielders and getting the honorable mention(#11) for the best lineups. The only category they didn’t do well in was the best infield, not getting mentioned among the 14 teams named.
Those rankings combined seemed to point to the Pirates being among one of the top five teams in baseball, but Olney has them ranked ninth overall and fifth in the National League.
If you use his rankings as standings, then that means he is picking the Chicago Cubs to win the NL Central, as they are the top ranked team on his list. The San Francisco Giants(#4) would win the NL West and New York Mets(#8) would repeat as NL East champs. That would leave his #7 ranked team, the St Louis Cardinals to host the Pirates in the NL wild card game.
Olney’s list has an even split of AL/NL teams in the top ten. The Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Nationals all got honorable mentions.
