With the Yankees sitting out the postseason for just the second time in recent memory (since 1993, to be precise) and the Mets setting their sights on contending in 2014 (or is it 2015?), it’s a cold, barren baseball October around these parts.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t root for one of the eight teams still alive in the MLB playoffs. It just so happens there’s a likable bunch of Bucs, a team full of interesting and familiar characters playing for a historic franchise in a gorgeous park in a success-starved gem of a city. Here are just a few reasons to pull for the Pirates:
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1. They are the underdogs.
The Pirates posted their first winning season since 1992, following 20 straight years under .500. While every other playoff team has appeared in the postseason at least once since 2007, this is the Pirates’ first playoff appearance since that 1992 season, which ended in heartbreak in Game 7 of the NLCS against the Braves (Sid Bream, anyone?).
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2. They have the best ballpark in the postseason.
Getty Images PNC Park sits right on the Allegheny River, with the yellow Clemente Bridge overlooking it. During Tuesday’s wild-card game, a Jolly Roger skull-and-crossbones flag was hanging from the bridge. PNC has a capacity under 40,000 – not counting standing room – but there is scarcely a bad seat in the house.Â
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3. Their fans are really into it.
Getty Images In the Wild Card game on Tuesday night, Pirates fans produced a “blackout” by showing up wearing the team’s foremost color. They proceeded to razz Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto so hard — with a ceaseless singsong chant of his last name — he quite literally dropped the ball on the mound and allowed a homer on his next pitch. No matter what, they get one more game: the best-of-five Division Series shifts from St. Louis to the Steel City on Sunday.
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4. They are the closest thing to a New York team.
A.J. Burnett gets Russell Martin with the old pie in the face. Getty Images There are former Mets (Marlon Byrd, John Buck, manager Clint Hurdle), former Yankees (Russell Martin, A.J. Burnett, Mark Melancon, Jose Tabata), former local college guys (Seton Hall alum Jason Grilli) and former local high school players (Horace Mann alum Pedro Alvarez and Rutherford HS alum Vin Mazzaro).
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5. They have a true superstar.
Getty Images Center fielder Andrew McCutchen can do it all: hit, run, field (and draw). The dreadlocked soon-to-be 27-year-old from Florida — aka “Cutch” — is the favorite to win National League MVP after a season in which he posted a .317 average with 21 homers, 84 RBIs, 38 doubles, 97 runs scored, 27 stolen bases and a .404 on-base percentage while playing Gold Glove-caliber defense.
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6. Their bullpen has a cool nickname.
Getty Images The Shark Tank is led by Grilli, an All-Star in his first full season as closer at age 36, and another hard-throwing righty in Melancon. Sharks were picked as the group’s spirit animal because they “look for the smell of blood and go in for the kill,” Grilli told MLB.com. The Pirates installed a 150-gallon tank in their home clubhouse that features multiple breeds of shark.
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7. They think outside the box.
India's Dinesh Patel (L) and Rinku Singh Reuters The globally minded organization gave minor league contracts to two cricket-playing minor leaguers who won a reality show in India (their story is coming soon to a theater near you in a movie starring Jon Hamm). The big league Pirates also are breaking ground with their tactics: They use defensive shifts for every opposing batter based on his tendencies.
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8. They have a cause.
Clint Hurdle Getty Images Hurdle’s 11-year-old daughter, Madison, has the genetic disorder Prader-Willi Syndrome, and Hurdle is the national spokesman for an organization that increases awareness.
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9. Look at those babies again, would you?
St. Claire's Hospital on Twitter Pittsburgh’s St. Clair Hospital is dressing newborns — Baby Buccos! — in Pirates onesies and red bandanas for the duration of the Pirates’ postseason run. Now all they need is miniature versions of those 70s-era Willie Stargell pillbox hats. Â Â
