Pittsburgh

These are the five reasons/ways the Pirates will make the playoffs this season.

If the Pirates make the playoffs, the city of Pittsburgh will go crazy. This is a city that is deserving of a great baseball team.

I have no doubt that if the Pirates were good, the seats would be full. They had a better attendance a year ago than the Rays, which is absurd.

A lot of Penguins fans jumped on the bandwagon of Sidney Crosby and the new-look Penguins.

I have no doubt that the same thing would happen if the Pirates were good.

At first glance the N.L. Central would seem to be a two-team race between the Cincinnati Reds and the Milwaukee Brewers. Some people add the St. Louis Cardinals to the mix because, well, they're the St. Louis Cardinals. But most analysts seem to agree that it's between the Reds with their combination of speed, power and pitching, and the Brewers, who have one of the top offenses in baseball.

But hold on!

As spring approaches, baseball fans all across the nation become giddy with anticipation. New acquisitions have us all looking at our respective teams and wonder what may be.

Still, there are inevitabilities in every season.

There is at least one guy out there who, looked at as a random scrub today, will be a star in the coming months. A minor league player hoping to make the big club will become an integral part of their success.

Neil Walker. Jose Tabata. Pedro Alvarez.

Three names Pittsburgh Pirates fans have probably been familiar with for the years leading up to their major league debuts in 2010. 

Whether it has been through trade or by evaluating talent and drafting the appropriate player, the Pirates have amassed some talent once again in their farm system. 

While some prospects are multiple years away from making an impact at the major-league level; others are primed to make their names known to the fans at PNC Park and around the city of Pittsburgh.

Have you ever wondered what goes through your girlfriend's mind when she stops dead in her tracks, her eyes glaze over and she goes into a trance while looking at that ring in the window?

That's what this is for men. Players like this only become freely available once a generation, and we too have paused and slipped into an alternative universe where this shiny jewel could be ours.

A day following the announcement of Chuck Tanner’s death, we have read what a wonderful man he was.

This praise is most deserved. He was always positive, always helpful. From nursing his wife back to health after a stroke to seemingly befriending everyone he met, Chuck Tanner was a truly wonderful person.

This winter is going to be long and hard for Pennsylvania sports fans, as the Pittsburgh Steelers ended a promising season with a Super Bowl loss to the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Pirates begin what will likely be a record setting 19th straight losing season.
 

The Pittsburgh Pirates had little reason to smile last season, holding the worst record in Major League Baseball by a full four games. At 57 wins with 105 losses, the Pirates won just 17 games on the road en route to their 18th consecutive losing season. That's right, 18 years in a row they have had a losing season, which also happens to be the longest streak in professional sports today.

The Pittsburgh Pirates come into the 2011 MLB season riding that great losing seasons streak and do not seem to want to get off that horse this year or, for many fans anywhere, for some time.

The Pirates showed the fans and baseball some good young talent with Neil Walker, Pedro Alvarez and Jose Tabata.

These three young players, however, could do little to bring back the winning ways that have been lost in the pages of Pirates history.

HTMS Minor League Baseball Report

Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Pirates have announced the passing of first-round draft choice Chico Morales.