Buccos Cove

After a couple of weeks of playing outside of try division, the Pittsburgh Pirates head on the road to face the St. Louis Cardinals this weekend. They are looking for their first win of the season against St. Louis as they look to keep their roll going. After falling in 10 straight games last week, the Pittsburgh Pirates have bounced back nicely against the American League Central. They went 3-2 on their latest homestand, taking two of three from the Cleveland Indians and splitting a two-game series with the Chicago White Sox. Overall, they have won three of their last five games, and have gotten their record to 26-46. However, they are now heading back to National League Central play and will face divisional opponents in eight of their final 18 games before the all-star break, with all eight of those games being on the road. It all starts with a seven-game, two City Road trip as the Pirates are in a sprint to the July 12th - 15th All-Star Break. However, it won't be an

After splitting a series with the San Francisco Giants over the weekend, the Pittsburgh Pirates head on the road for a six-game road trip. They open up with an NL Central match-up with the St. Louis Cardinals. The last time the Pittsburgh Pirates were getting ready to take on the St. Louis Cardinals, things were looking good for the team. They had either won or tied each of their last six series and were sitting a game over .500 at 12-11. However, since then, the team has picked up just five wins and has fallen to six games under .500. They started to get back on track last time out as they split their series with the San Francisco Giants and marked their first series that they haven't lost since the series with the Kansas City Royals on April 26th and 27th. Now, they are back in National League Central play for two nights and are looking to knock off the division-leading Cardinals. It is going to be no easy task for the Pirates, as the Cardinals have been a team that h

It is an early-season battle for second place in the National League Central when the Pittsburgh Pirates welcome in the St. Louis Cardinals over the weekend. We look at what to expect as the Pirates try to continue their streak of not losing series. The Pittsburgh Pirates have been playing above expectations throughout the month of April, and part of that is because of their ability to win series. They didn't win the series with the Royals this week, but they earned a split of the two-game series and still have not lost a series since the April 5th to April 7th games in Cincinnati. They look to continue that stretch this weekend as they welcome in National League Central Rivals the St. Louis Cardinals for the first time in 2021. It may be a bit too early to look at the standings, but this is an early-season battle for second place in the division. Pirates and Cardinals games always have a flare, but this series will test the Young Buc's competitiveness and see how t

One of the new rules implemented for the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season was the two seven-inning games for Double Headers. The Pirates took advantage of this new rule in their first doubleheader of the season when they swept the St. Louis Cardinals on August 27th.  Early in the 2020 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates had a road trip in which they had to face the St. Louis Cardinals for three games and the Cincinnati Reds for four games. However, due to positive COVID-19 tests on both teams, only two of those games were played and the rest had to be made up. As a result, the Pirates would have to schedule a couple of doubleheaders later in the season to make up for the lost games. This meant implementing the new seven-inning doubleheader rule that was established for 2020. Rather than playing two nine-inning games, the teams would instead play two seven-inning games to keep players on the field for a shorter amount of time. The first time the Pirates would do this was on August

As the 2020 season comes down to its conclusion, the Pirates get set to wrap up their final homestand against the St. Louis Cardinals. We look at what to expect in this five-game series to kick off a nine-game homestand. It has been a rough stretch for the Pirates over their final 20 games of the 2020 season. After a dismal 4-16 start, the Pirates looked like they were going to turn things around going 10-10 over their next 20 games. However, since then things have gone downhill for the Bucs as they have lost each of their last eight games and currently sit at 14-34 with the worst record in Major League Baseball. With 12 games remaining in the season, the Pirates need to win six of those games to get to 20 wins and have a respectable record. However, the road will not be easy as they have to face the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, and Cleveland Indians to end the season. They kick off their final homestand of 2020 with a five-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals,

The Pittsburgh Pirates get their first taste of Doubleheader action today when they take on the St. Louis Cardinals today starting at 3:15 pm in a makeup of a game that was postponed due to COVID-19. Doubleheaders are rare anymore in Major League Baseball, but when the Pirates take on the St. Louis Cardinals in their doubleheader today, it will be even more unusual. The teams will play two seven-inning games as opposed to the normal two nine-inning games. For the Pirates, this is a big doubleheader for the team coming off of two straight losses at the hands of the Chicago White Sox. The Pirates are looking to get back on track and show off some of their trade chips ahead of Monday's Trade Deadline. It will be the second time the Pirates have faced the Cardinals this season after dropping two of three in the first series of 2020. However, the Pirates look a little different since that game dealing with injuries to 12 of their everyday players, including Kevin Newman and

The Pittsburgh Pirates opened their 2020 schedule in St. Louis when they took on the Cardinals. The Pirates competed all night long but didn't have enough to keep up with the Cardinals. The game looked like a loss as the Pirates entered the ninth inning of their Opening Day game against the St. Louis Cardinals. The team was down by three runs, and the offense looked pretty stagnant except for one offensive burst in the fifth inning. However, the Cardinals were bringing in their rookie closer and the heart of the Pirates order was coming to the plate. They did provide some fight, but it wasn't enough as the Pirates fell to the Cardinals 5-4 and dropped to 0-1 on the season. While there were some down moments, it wasn't all bad and I like the way the Pirates competed throughout the game, even when it looked like they were down and out. After day one, it is important not to over-react and be entirely negative. While you hate to start the season 0-1, 15 other teams

The 2020 Major League Baseball season is finally here and the Pittsburgh Pirates open up their schedule against the St. Louis Cardinals. It is the first of a three-game series and here is what you can expect as the team gets set for 2020. It is official, baseball is back! The 2020 season kicked off tonight, and the Pittsburgh Pirates will start their 60-game slate tomorrow when they head to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals. Over the last six seasons, the Cardinals have owned the Pirates going 67-46 against are beloved Bucs. The last time the Pirates didn't have a losing record against St. Louis was in 2013 when they went 12-12, and their last winning season against the Cardinals was 2011 when they went 9-7. 2019 was the worst season yet for the Pirates in the all-time match-up as they went just 5-14 against the Cardinals in 19 matchups. So, how do the Pirates turn the tide and get back to at least competing with one of the top teams in the National League Central? It

As we await the start of the 2020 MLB season due to Corona Virus concerns, we will take a look at every player on the Pirates roster and outline what they will bring to the table and projections for the 2020 season. I hope this brings some positive reading to the current situation and helps us all as we wait for baseball. When the Pittsburgh Pirates took Winston Nicacio in the Minor League portion of the 2019 Rule 5 Draft, they knew he needed some work. His control had been up and down during his first three years in the St. Louis Cardinals system, and he was struggling to find himself in professional ball. They worked with him extensively in the off-season to teach him how to control his pitches and become more of a pitcher than just a hard thrower. By the end of 2019, Nicacio looked to have his control managed and posted the lowest walk percentage of his professional career to date, split between two levels of the Minor League system. Nicacio pitched between Short Season

On Monday evening, Major League Baseball announced the 2020 Coronavirus abbreviated schedules for all 30 Major League teams. The season will be 60 games spanning 66 days with the Pirates beginning the season on July 24th and wrapping up the year on September 27th. Let the excitement about baseball once again begin, as Major League Baseball came one step closer to restarting its 2020 season. The league announced the schedules for all 30 Major League clubs on Monday night kicking things off on July 23rd with the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals and the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. The San Francisco Giants. The Pittsburgh Pirates will begin their season the very next day when they head to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals at 8:10 pm. It kicks off the 60 game sprint that will last from July 24th until September 27th, then the postseason begins with the three division champions and two wild cards from each division making the tournament. The Pirates will play their norm

As we await the start of the 2020 MLB season due to Corona Virus concerns, we will take a look at every player on the Pirates roster and outline what they will bring to the table and projections for the 2020 season. I hope this brings some positive reading to the current situation and helps us all as we wait for baseball. The glue that holds every team together is not it's star players, but the role players who come in and do their part to help teams win ball games. Charlie Tilson has been a role player at the Major League level his entire career and brings that experience with him to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates needed some Major League ready outfield depth for the 2020 season, and Tilson brings that with strong defensive skills and average offensive production. He isn't going to be a household name by any means, but his ability to come in and play well could be the difference between the Pirates winning or losing a game. Tilson has spent the last four seaso

As we await the start of the 2020 MLB season due to Corona Virus concerns, we will take a look at every player on the Pirates roster and outline what they will bring to the table and projections for the 2020 season. I hope this brings some positive reading to the current situation and helps us all as we wait for baseball. Since the 2012 season, Jacob Stallings has been working his way up through the Pirates system trying to make a name for himself. However, every time he was ready to make the leap to the next level, there was someone ahead of him ready to take his place. Because of this, Stallings's Major League reps have been limited to no more than 14 games a season and he wasn't seen as anything more than catching depth. 2019 would change all that as injuries thrusted Stallings into a starting role by the end of the season and he seemed to thrive. The 30-year old would have the best season of his Major League career hitting .262 with six home runs and 13