As we round the final curve of this baseball season, the Pirates have assembled one of their most interesting irrelevant years. They followed up a torrid April with a horrid May. Similar ups and downs followed. July turned out largely forgettable. Since they've started playing mostly prospects in August, fortunes have ticked back up again (to near .500). Entering September, we never know what we'll see from this team night to night. Sublime highs follow dispiriting lows.
Their projected number of wins has ticked up just one since the all star break. In late August, they eliminated me from Forster Family Prediction contention by winning their 58th game. Three prognosticators remain, but one will fall soon.
Their current 63-73 record/0.463 winning percentage maps to 75 wins, which would make optimistic Charlie the most accurate. Things would have to go deeply south for them to only win 5 more games out of 26 remaining, so Teddy's chance of perfection won't last too long. If they perform as badly as their worst month (May, 0.308), they'll win 71 total, and Paige will be right. If they finish how they started at April's .679 winning percentage, they could finish a non-losing 81-81.
