Numbers Crunching

It is way too early to start this sort of nonsense, but since the 4th of July is the traditional halfway point of the baseball season, let's do it anyway.

Through the games of July 4, the Pirates' record now stands at 30-52, which puts them on a pace to lose 103 games. With the recent 5 of 7 streak coloring our vision, here is what has to happen for the Pirates....

To finish at .500, they need to go 51-29 for the remainder of the season. Clearly this isn't going to happen, and we'll leave it from consideration unless the current trend continues.

To avoid 100 losses, they need to go 33-47. This is doable, but not a sure thing.

To avoid the 112 losses of the 1952 team, they need to go 21-59. I think that they can avoid this unhappy stat, but a week ago, this wasn't looking like an unlikely proposition.

What might be more fun is following the team that is now in place, the team that all agree will be "the future" (Alvarez, Walker, Lincoln et al). Let's put that horrible June behind us and choose July 1 as the arbitrary Opening Day for The Future, and track it from there.

OK, the team sat at 27-51 on June 30. In the remaining 84 games, what would you consider a benchmark of success for the Future Pirates? 45 wins? 40? 35?

So far, that team is 3-1.

The Grandstander will provide periodic updates as both seasons progress for the Bucs.