Sep 2, 2017 5 min read

Are the Pirates done yet?

Going into Saturday’s game with the Cincinnati Reds, they were 11½ games behind the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central Division. If my calculations are correct, a 7-21 finish by the Cubs and a 19-8 finish by the Pirates would get Pittsburgh its first division championship in 25 years.

Even the most optimistic fanboy blogger has to be ready to concede that the Pirates are going to make it 25 years without a division championship.

It also means they have three winning seasons in 25 years. If they keep up that pace, then they’ll have nine more winning seasons between now and 2092.

Chances are pretty good that a new ballpark will be needed by then. It better have even better food and a better view than PNC Park.

The Pirates probably weren’t going anywhere even if Jung Ho Kang hadn’t been kicked out of the country and Starling Marte hadn’t been kicked out of the clubhouse, but when they disappeared the season was headed for the toilet.

Andrew McCutchen, whose nickname on the back of his jersey on NickName Day should have been “Streaky,” had three months (April, May and August), when he hit less than .244. Gerrit Cole, with his 4.12 ERA, has proven that he’s a slightly better than average major league pitcher. Gregory Polanco has shown that he’s injury prone and might be on his way to being a bust. And Marte hasn’t shown yet that he can be very good when he’s off the juice.

Other than that, things are looking up for your Buccos.

• It would be unfair not to mention that Josh Bell has surpassed expectations at first base and is a legitimate Rookie of the Year candidate.

• Did you watch Ohio State running back J.K. Dobbins against Indiana Thursday night? He’s a 5-10, 208-pound true freshman with moves you can’t teach. He could play in the NFL next Sunday. If the NFL were like the NHL, Dobbins would have been a No. 1 pick in June and on an NFL roster this week.

• Fans might be looking at the Steelers’ opener in Cleveland next Sunday as the fifth exhibition game but the Steelers’ players better not approach it that way. The Browns are still a bad team but they have improved since last season. They’ll be starting DeShone Kizer, a rookie from Notre Dame, at quarterback but they’re also playing at home.

It could be a trap game for the Steelers if they take it too lightly and Mike Tomlin’s teams have been known to play down to bad opponents and lose.

It’s opening day and the Browns will be cranked up.

During practice this week, it might be a good idea for the players to remind themselves that the Browns are not going to be 0-16 this season.

• The Pirates’ future would be even worse if the Houston Astros hadn’t moved out of their division.

The Cubs began rebuilding at about the time the Astros moved to the American League and will be out of the Pirates’ class for a long time. The Cardinals, who were nice enough to have a bad season this year, have finished ahead of the Pirates every year since 1999 and will have the revenue and the stability to stay ahead of them for the foreseeable future. The Astros are 27 games over .500 and picked up right-handed pitcher Justin Verlander from the Detroit Tigers for three prospects. Verlander is a former Cy Young Award winner and MVP and will make $28 million each of the next two years. The Tigers will pay $10 million of Verlander’s remaining salary.

Try to imagine the Pirates making a trade that adds $46 million to their payroll over the next two years.

Try to imagine the Pirates trying to overcome the Cubs, Cardinals and Astros to win a division championship.

• The Steelers signing free agent cornerback Joe Haden this week is a good example of why their future is so much better than the Pirates.

Haden may not be the player he was two years ago but he’s still a solid cornerback in a league where solid cornerbacks are hard to find. If the NFL’s economics were like MLB’s and there was no salary cap, Haden would have ended up on a team in a top-10 TV market. It was reported that the three other teams most interested in Haden were in New Orleans, Indianapolis and Dallas.

If it’s baseball, then the Cowboys blow the three small-market teams out of the water and Haden signs with them.

• I don’t have the words to describe how glad I am to have missed out on the world of fantasy sports. Way too much work. Glad to have grown to love sports when it was all about just watching the game.

John Steigerwald writes a Sunday column for the Observer-Reporter.