Two seasons in a row. A total collapse. No just sub par performance, but horrific performance after contending for a title.
Whose fault? Manager? GM? Players? Fans? Stray Dogs?
I’ve never seen this in baseball or been more frustrated as a fan.
You’ve never seen it? Just look a bit to your west. The Indians did exactly the same thing the last two years. They were in first place into June and then collapsed. It was a particularly bad collapse this year as they’re now fighting for last place.
You’ve never seen it in baseball and you’re watching the division where the Cubs play?
Seriously, though, the Pirates were 10 games over .500 as late as August 30. In their next 26 games, they gave up more 6 or more runs 14 times (although they actually won 2 of those games.) Looks like a classic case of the pitching staff running out of gas.
Were there any pitching trades after the All-Star break that might have come back to bite them in the ass? Injuries? Young pitchers who can’t rely on just their fastball after the other teams have seen them a couple of times?