Pittsburgh missed the playoffs in each of the past four years, which came after three straight trips to the postseason. In 138 years, Pittsburgh has five World Series titles (1909, 1925, 1960, 1971, and 1979) while reaching the playoffs in 17 different years.
Last season, Pittsburgh ranked 26th (5.18 ERA) with 31 saves. They finished 21st in runs (758), 27th in home runs (163), and 20th in RBI (722).
In the offseason, the Pirates signed three bench players (C Luke Maile, IF J.T. Riddle, and OF Guillermo Heredia). Their most significant move came with the trading of OF Starling Marte to the Diamondbacks for SS Liover Peguero and SP Brennan Malone.