The Pittsburgh Pirates have gotten off to a hot start and share the best record in the majors with the Yankees at 8-2. The Pirates started the season with a four-game sweep of the Marlins, then won both series against the Nationals and Orioles. Both wins against the Orioles came in exciting, walk-off
fashion . Some projections had the Pirates finishing fourth in the NL Central, and while that is still possible, the great start is very encouraging for fans. Pittsburgh has scored 59 runs thus far, which is the fourth most in the majors. The pitching has been more than solid as well, as they are 10th in ERA with a 3.60 mark. Starting pitchers Martin Perez, Marco Gonzales and Jared Jones have all been very good through two starts. The first two have an ERA of 2.45. Out of the bullpen, Aroldis Chapman, Jose Hernandez, Josh Fleming and Hunter Stratton have allowed just two earned runs over 17.1 innings, and all four have one save. On offense, only Oneil Cruz has more than one home run and he just has two. Michael A. Taylor is red hot, hitting .429 . Cruz and Ke'Bryan Hayes are both off to good starts, hitting .333 and .325, respectively. So far, it has been a well-rounded effort that has led to the Pirates' terrific start. The question becomes if they can keep it up. In all honesty, it doesn't seem likely. Perez has a career ERA of 4.42 over 13 years . Gonzalez's is slightly better at 4.12, but not ace material by any means. Taylor's career batting average is a paltry .240 , so you know he's due for some major regression. Still, this fast start shows the Pirates can play extremely well throughout a slate of games. If a team does that enough throughout the season, come September, they could find themselves in the mix. There are always a couple of teams that outperform projections and there isn't any reason why the Pirates can't be one of those teams in 2024. The Pirates' last postseason appearance was in 2015 , and they lost the wild-card game against the Cubs. As a franchise, they are due for a good season. Coming up, they have two games against the Tigers , four at Philadelphia and then three at the Mets. If the Pirates can survive that stretch with more wins than not, fans should get excited in Pittsburgh.