The Pittsburgh Steelers’ last playoff win came in 2016, a stat that many fans are painfully aware of. While the Steelers have fielded good teams since then, not one has been able to capture even a single playoff victory, with many of their playoff appearances since then either being over by halftime or suffering from such brutal starts that they can’t possibly fight their way back. Many fans are tired of the Steelers just having a winning season, with players like T.J. Watt just as hungry for their first playoff victory. Truly, you know times are tough in Pittsburgh because one analyst even claims the Pirates are going to be more successful than the Steelers this year.
Adam Schein is an analyst and host for Mad Dog Sports Radio, and in a recent segment on the radio station, he claimed that fans of Pittsburgh sports feel more positively about the Pirates than the Steelers right now, which might be the first time anyone has ever said that.
”If you’re a Pittsburgh sports fan, you feel better about the Pirates right now than you do the Steelers. That’s just a fact. Who’s gonna have more playoff success this year, Pirates or the Steelers? Who has a better chance at making the playoffs this year, Pirates or the Steelers?”
Some Steelers fans might not be familiar with the Pirates, Pittsburgh’s resident MLB team, so to give a short description, they’re like the Browns, if the Browns actively tried to be even worse than they already somehow are. Outside of a few years of success, they’ve been a disaster since Dan Marino was playing college football at the University of Pittsburgh. Safe to say, the Steelers have always been better than the Pirates, even during some of their down years.
However, there is some hope for the Pirates, as they seem to have the next big thing at pitcher, so maybe they won’t be completely terrible this year. So far, they’re competing for a wildcard spot in the playoffs. If they manage to sneak in, is it fair to say the Steelers can’t do the same thing? After all, they did it last year, and that was with a significantly worse roster. The Steelers’ biggest weakness has been their offense, and they made strides this offseason to fix that, so logic says they should at least be able to get as far as they did last year.
Claiming the Pirates, whose owner literally could not care less about baseball, have a better chance at playoff success compared to the Steelers is bold, to say the least. Maybe their stud pitcher throws a gem in the playoffs, but you also need to be able to hit the ball to actually win. The Steelers have been frustrating for the past few years, but anyone who is a fan of Pittsburgh sports knows that having faith in the Pirates is like having faith in a flat tire. Believe it when you see it, and we’ve seen it more with the Steelers than the Pirates, especially as the Steelers seem to have a renewed vigor when it comes to the playoffs.
