OnlyBucs

We were 50-50 on July 24th.  We were 58-58 on August 11th.  In the remaining 46 games, we won only 17 to finish at 75-87.  That's a  .369 clip the final 25% of the season. 



Had we played just .555 ball over that final 46 games, we would have finished 84-78.   Had we played .555 ball from July 24th onward, we finish 85-77.



2nd place in the division (by beating division rivals head to head) and 2 games behind the Rockies for the wild card.   



The front office uses the word "contention" often: 



What do you think it means to them? 

What does it mean to YOU? 

When is it OK to not try to win?

5C555D4C42380 wrote: We were 50-50 on July 24th.  We were 58-58 on August 11th.  In the remaining 46 games, we won only 17 to finish at 75-87.  That's a  .369 clip the final 25% of the season. 



Had we played just .555 ball over that final 46 games, we would have finished 84-78.   Had we played .555 ball from July 24th onward, we finish 85-77.



2nd place in the division (by beating division rivals head to head) and 2 games behind the Rockies for the wild card.   



The front office uses the word "contention" often: 



What do you think it means to them? 

What does it mean to YOU? 

When is it OK to not try to win?


I won't waste my time attempting to understand what contention might mean to Pirate ownership/management. I have enough cognitive dissonance to deal with in my life already.



Contention to me means that the Pirates are within half dozen games of the Division lead or within 3 games of a Wild Card berth on September 1st.



In general I'd be OK with not attempting to contend after an "all in effort" to win a World Series has reached its expiration date, and a rebuild is necessary. Specifically by "all in effort" I mean spending money on MLB payroll to fortify a team on the cusp of greatness commensurate with revenues. In other words exactly the opposite of what the Pirate$ did following the 2015 season.