The Pittsburgh Pirates all-time record countdown to below .500 watch - 10,854-10848 .50013 -

 The Pirates hold steady since they fired Derek Shelton staying 6 games over .500. They have gone 3-3

They reached .500 on August 22, 1903 and have been above it ever since. 

A Problem with Baseball Part 1 - The Los Angeles Dodgers used 42 different pitchers last year.

 

That was not to honor Jackie Robinson.

Heck the Marlins used 45 different pitchers.

As an old school collector these numbers are incomprehensible. I used to know the 20-25 players on a team because they would appear on Topps cards (thinking mostly the 1980s).

Now I can not comprehend who pitched for the Dodgers.

Some Stats 

The 1974 Dodgers used 13 pitchers and four of them did not get 10 Innings.

The 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates used 14 pictures - Chuck Tanner once famously said he would like to use a picture every 3 innings. In games 5 of the World Series he started Jim Rooker used him for the first five innings and then brought in Bert Blyleven and used him for the last 4 innings. The Pirates were down 3 games to 1 at the time. 

Earl Weaver used 12 pictures that year with 2 of them only getting 3 innings total.   

The reason why teams you all these pitchers because they now through so hard, the managers need to limit their innings, pitches, games etc.... All these pitchers have led to another problem.........

The Pittsburgh Pirates all-time countdown to below .500 watch - 10,851-10845 .50013 - Derek Shelton fired

 The Pirates were 140 games over .500 when Derek Shelton - They are now only 6 as history awaits. 

The Pittsburgh Pirates all-time countdown to below .500 watch - 10,851-10844 .50016 - A Philadelphia Phillies Note

 In infamous history is about to be made as the Pirates all-time record is steaming to below .500.

One idea for this post came from when I was in Philadelphia some 17 years or so ago.

When I was there (I think Steven A Smith was writing for the Inquirer) in a Sunday edition of the newspaper there was a big story about how the Phillies were going to become the first major North American franchise to lose 10,000 games (now they were only going to compete against the other original 7 National League teams for this honor. - there is no NFL. NBA or NFL team that had a chance to do it first)

It was not all bad for the Phillies since they won the 2008 World Series

The Pittsburgh Pirates all-time countdown to below .500 watch - 10,851-10842 .50020 -

 This fall to below .500 is happening real fast.

The Pirates were about 200 games below .500 as of the end of 1891.

The Pirates reached .500 on August 22, 1903 with a all time record of 1409-1409 after a sweep of the Philadelphia in a double header 

On August 24, 1903 they tied Philadelphia in a game.  Then on Monday August 25, 1903 the Pirates again sweep Philadelphia in a doubleheader to have an all time record of 1411-1409 for .50035 winning percentage.

History is happening - 122 years later..............

The Pittsburgh Pirates all-time countdown to below .500 watch - 10,851-10840 .50025 - A Chicago Cubs note

History will be made soon at the Pirates All Time mark falls below .500

 Here are some of the baseball teams that started in the 1800s where are they currently in in relation to the .500 mark

Braves +162 - They made an incredible run in the last 35 years to get over .500. Since 1991 the Braves have finished over .500 - 29 times and below 5 times. They currently sit at .500

Cubs  - +567 - In one of the most unbelievable statistics in American Sports History the Cubs franchise all-time record has never been below .500. They won there first four games in 1876 and have never look back. - We are talking about 149 consecutive years at being over the .500 mark. 

The Pittsburgh Pirates countdown to below .500 watch - 10,850-10838 .50027

 Something extraordinary is going to happen as the Pittsburgh Pirates all-time record will fall below .500 soon. We will examine this  event in coming posts.