PITTSBURGH — Paul Skenes is shining bright early this season, but the Pittsburgh Pirates are stuck in the mud as one of baseball’s weakest squads.
Through eight games, they’re limping along at 2-6, with only the Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals, and Colorado Rockies scraping by with a single win each.
The Pirates kicked off the year with a brutal series against the Miami Marlins, dropping three of four games—all heartbreakers. They fell 5-4 on Opening Day (March 27), 5-4 again in 12 innings on March 29, and 3-2 on March 30, with their lone victory a 4-3 squeaker on March 28.
Next up was a road trip to face the Tampa Bay Rays, where they lost two of three, followed by a 9-4 drubbing from the New York Yankees in their April 4 home opener.
Pirates fans let their frustration rip at PNC Park, targeting owner Bob Nutting and manager Derek Shelton. The fan group “Our Team, Not His” staged a double whammy: a protest on Federal Street and a plane buzzing overhead with a banner screaming “Sell the Team Bob,” complete with the URL ourteamnothis.com circling the stadium.
That aerial jab reportedly cost fans $4,000, per Dejan Kovacevic of DK Pittsburgh Sports, who noted they hired a private plane to flex over Downtown and the North Shore.
On the ground, fans swarmed Nutting in the left-field rotunda, chanting “Sell The Team” as he passed by. Shelton didn’t escape the heat either, drowning in boos during pre-game intros.
Under Nutting and Shelton, the Pirates have been a sinking ship for decades, despite five World Series titles in their history. Nutting’s 19-year reign since 2007 boasts a dismal 1285-1535 record (.455), with just three playoff trips (2013-15) and four winning seasons.
Payroll’s part of the problem—Pittsburgh’s Opening Day figure sat at $89,975,500, per Cot’s Contracts, a cool $20 million shy of their NL Central rival Milwaukee Brewers’ $109,141,136. Only the Marlins ($68.9M), White Sox ($74M), Athletics ($78.2M), and Rays ($82.9M) rank lower.
Shelton’s been at the helm since November 27, 2019, snagging an extension on April 22, 2023. But his five-year run is bleak: 294-414 (.415), with the Pirates never climbing above fourth in the NL Central.
Meanwhile, Skenes, fresh off a 2024 NL Rookie of the Year nod, is gunning for a Cy Young. He dazzled on Opening Day against the Marlins, tossing 5.1 innings with three hits, two earned runs, two walks, and seven strikeouts. He upped the ante April 2 against the Rays, spinning seven innings of three-hit, one-run ball with six Ks in a 4-2 win.
After the rocky home opener, Skenes chatted with Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, backing Nutting and Shelton while owning the team’s early flops. “Mr. Nutting and Shelty aren’t out there swinging,” he said. “We are. If we were 8-0 right now, maybe the fans wouldn’t be booing. We’ve got to step up.”
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