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Pirates Ranked as the Third Best Team in Baseball

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On ESPN.com on Friday afternoon, David Schoenfield wrapped up his rankings on all 30 teams in baseball and he placed the Pittsburgh Pirates third in all of baseball. They are also third in the National League, falling behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals.

Schoenfield put a lot of work into these rankings, splitting them up into five separate articles. In his evaluation of the Pirates, he says they have a deep lineup and he expects them to be even better at scoring runs this year, with a bounce back from Pedro Alvarez being key to the added offense. He also praises their depth, defense and says the outfield trio of Gregory Polanco, Andrew McCutchen and Starling Marte “may be the best all-around group in the game”. He also thinks the starting rotation is strong, saying the Pirates have done just fine without an ace, while also saying Gerrit Cole could be the team’s breakout player this year.

His final record prediction is 91-71, putting them three wins above the St Louis Cardinals for the NL Central.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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