The Pirates suffer from a lack of consistency. If they could be consistent, the World Series would be theirs. Perhaps that consistency will come next year.
If they have to face Johnny Cueto in a one game playoff, they have problems. Big ones. He owns us. We have won a game he started, but he left the game early hurt.
Our offense will certainly dictate how well we do. Our bullpen is pretty stable. Melancon has faltered a bit this past week, but hes been lights out otherwise. Grilli looks like he is back to normal. Im not worried there nor does starting pitching concern me. Liriano, Burnett, Morton, and Cole all look pretty good.
Our offense had some glaring holes in RF and at 1B. Byrd has been great in RF .... Morneau hasn’t done much at 1B. The rest of the offense has had issues throughout the season, but they seem to be coming together right now.
All in all, yeah, they’re a bigger threat next year if they address the 1B and RF holes in the offseason (we do have an option for RF in our minors) ... that was killing us most of the season. However, if this team goes on a streak like they did in June, its going to be pretty interesting for Pirate fans this October.