2020 Pittsburgh Pirates season

The 2020 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the franchise's 139th season overall, 134th season as a member of the National League, and 20th season at PNC Park.

2020 Pittsburgh Pirates
League	National League
Division	Central
Ballpark	PNC Park
City	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania[1]
Record	19–41 (.317)
Divisional place	5th
Owners	Robert Nutting
General managers	Ben Cherington
Managers	Derek Shelton
Television	AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh
Radio	KDKA-FM Pittsburgh Pirates Radio Network (Greg Brown, Joe Block, Bob Walk, John Wehner, Michael McKenry)
Stats	ESPN.com Baseball Reference
← 2019 Seasons 2021 →

On March 12, 2020, MLB announced that because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the start of the regular season would be delayed by at least two weeks in addition to the remainder of spring training being cancelled.^[2] Four days later, it was announced that the start of the season would be pushed back indefinitely due to the recommendation made by the CDC to restrict events of more than 50 people for eight weeks.^[3] On June 23, commissioner Rob Manfred unilaterally implemented a 60-game season. Players reported to training camps on July 1 to resume spring training and prepare for a July 24 Opening Day.^[4]

The Pirates finished the season with an MLB worst record of 19–41. The team's .317 winning percentage was their worst since 1952. The Pirates technically set an MLB record for the fewest games won in any official season, finishing with one less win than the notorious 1899 Cleveland Spiders, although the 1899 Spiders played 154 games. Because of the shortened season, and a winning percentage of .317 winning percentage being roughly equivalent to a 51-111 record in a 162-game season, the 19 wins is not generally recognized as one of baseball's worst records.

Season standings

National League Central

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• e

NL Central

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago Cubs	34	26	.567	—	19‍–‍14	15‍–‍12
St. Louis Cardinals	30	28	.517	3	14‍–‍13	16‍–‍15
Cincinnati Reds	31	29	.517	3	16‍–‍13	15‍–‍16
Milwaukee Brewers	29	31	.483	5	15‍–‍14	14‍–‍17
Pittsburgh Pirates	19	41	.317	15	13‍–‍19	6‍–‍22

National League playoff standings

• v
• t
• e

Division leaders

Team	W	L	Pct.
Los Angeles Dodgers	43	17	.717
Atlanta Braves	35	25	.583
Chicago Cubs	34	26	.567

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• t
• e

Division 2nd place

Team	W	L	Pct.
San Diego Padres	37	23	.617
St. Louis Cardinals	30	28	.517
Miami Marlins	31	29	.517

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• t
• e

Wild Card teams
(Top 2 teams qualify for postseason)

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
Cincinnati Reds	31	29	.517	+2
Milwaukee Brewers	29	31	.483	—
San Francisco Giants	29	31	.483	—
Philadelphia Phillies	28	32	.467	1
Washington Nationals	26	34	.433	3
New York Mets	26	34	.433	3
Colorado Rockies	26	34	.433	3
Arizona Diamondbacks	25	35	.417	4
Pittsburgh Pirates	19	41	.317	10

Record vs. opponents

2020 National League record v t e Source: MLB Standings Grid – 2020
Team}}WSH!style="background-color: #0E3386 !important; color: #FFFFFF !important; box-shadow: inset 2px 2px 0 #CC3433, inset -2px -2px 0 #CC3433; !important; width:35px;"SF	AL
Chicago	—	6–4	5–5	6–4	5–5	12–8
Cincinnati	4–6	—	6–4	7–3	4–6	10–10
Milwaukee	5–5	4–6	—	5–5	5–5	10–10
Pittsburgh	4–6	3–7	5–5	—	4–6	3–17
St. Louis	5–5	6–4	5–5	6–4	—	8–10

Detailed records

NL Central Opponent W L WP RS RA Chicago Cubs 4 6 0.400 34 38 Cincinnati Reds 3 7 0.300 27 46 Milwaukee Brewers 5 5 0.500 54 49 Pittsburgh Pirates St. Louis Cardinals 4 6 0.400 33 39 Total 16 24 0.400 148 172 AL Central Chicago White Sox 1 3 0.250 9 26 Cleveland Indians 1 5 0.167 21 26 Detroit Tigers 0 3 0.000 19 30 Kansas City Royals 0 3 0.000 7 22 Minnesota Twins 1 3 0.250 15 22 Total 3 17 0.150 71 126 Season Total 19 41 0.317 219 298

Month Games Won Lost Win % RS RA July 7 2 5 0.286 26 36 August 25 8 17 0.320 102 137 September 28 9 19 0.321 91 125 Total 60 19 41 0.317 219 298 Games Won Lost Win % RS RA Home 32 13 19 0.406 129 154 Away 28 6 22 0.214 90 144 Total 60 19 41 0.317 219 298

Game log

2020 Game Log: 19–41 (Home: 13–19; Away: 6–22)
July: 2–5 (Home: 1–2; Away: 1–3) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Streak 1 July 24 @ Cardinals 4–5 Flaherty (1–0) Musgrove (0–1) Kim (1) 0–1 L1 2 July 25 @ Cardinals 1–9 Wainwright (1–0) Williams (0–1) — 0–2 L2 3 July 26 @ Cardinals 5–1 Keller (1–0) Hudson (0–1) — 1–2 W1 4 July 27 Brewers 5–6 (11) Phelps (1–0) Neverauskas (0–1) — 1–3 L1 5 July 28 Brewers 8–6 Hartlieb (1–0) Wahl (0–1) Burdi (1) 2–3 W1 6 July 29 Brewers 0–3 Woodruff (1–1) Musgrove (0–2) Hader (1) 2–4 L1 7 July 31 @ Cubs 3–6 Darvish (1–1) Williams (0–2) — 2–5 L2
August: 8–17 (Home: 4–7; Away: 4–10) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Streak 8 August 1 @ Cubs 3–4 Chatwood (2–0) Keller (1–1) Wick (1) 2–6 L3 9 August 2 @ Cubs 1–2 (11) Jeffress (1–0) Ponce (0–1) — 2–7 L4 10 August 3 @ Twins 4–5 Rogers (1–0) Burdi (0–1) — 2–8 L5 11 August 4 @ Twins 3–7 Berríos (1–1) Musgrove (0–3) May (1) 2–9 L6 12 August 5 Twins 2–5 Dobnak (2–1) Williams (0–3) — 2–10 L7 13 August 6 Twins 6–5 Howard (1–0) Rogers (1–1) — 3–10 W1 14 August 7 Tigers 13–17 (11) Garcia (2–0) Neverauskas (0–2) — 3–11 L1 15 August 8 Tigers 5–11 Nova (1–0) Holland (0–1) — 3–12 L2 16 August 9 Tigers 1–2 Turnbull (2–0) Rodríguez (0–1) Jiménez (5) 3–13 L3 — August 10 @ Cardinals Postponed (COVID-19) (Makeup date: August 27) — August 11 @ Cardinals Postponed (COVID-19) (Makeup date: August 27) — August 12 @ Cardinals Postponed (COVID-19) (Makeup date: September 18) 17 August 13 @ Reds 9–6 Williams (1–3) DeSclafani (1–1) — 4–13 W1 18 August 14 @ Reds 1–8 Gray (4–1) Kuhl (0–1) — 4–14 L1 — August 15 @ Reds Postponed (COVID-19) (Makeup date: September 4) — August 16 @ Reds Postponed (COVID-19) (Makeup date: September 14) 19 August 18 Indians 3–6 (10) Wittgren (1–0) Howard (1–1) Hand (6) 4–15 L2 20 August 19 Indians 1–6 Civale (3–2) Neverauskas (0–3) — 4–16 L3 21 August 20 Indians 0–2 Bieber (5–0) Williams (1–4) Hand (7) 4–17 L4 22 August 21 Brewers 7–2 Kuhl (1–1) Houser (1–2) — 5–17 W1 23 August 22 Brewers 12–5 Holland (1–1) Lindblom (1–1) — 6–17 W2 24 August 23 Brewers 5–4 Stratton (1–0) Phelps (2–3) Rodríguez (1) 7–17 W3 25 August 25 @ White Sox 0–4 Giolito (3–2) Brault (0–1) — 7–18 L1 26 August 26 @ White Sox 3–10 Keuchel (5–2) Williams (1–5) — 7–19 L2 27 August 27 (1) @ Cardinals 4–3 (8) Stratton (2–0) Gant (0–2) Rodríguez (2) 8–19 W1 28 August 27 (2) @ Cardinals 2–0 (7) Ponce (1–1) Oviedo (0–1) Turley (1) 9–19 W2 29 August 28 @ Brewers 1–9 Burnes (1–0) Holland (1–2) — 9–20 L1 30 August 29 @ Brewers 6–7 Williams (2–1) Rodríguez (0–2) — 9–21 L2 31 August 30 @ Brewers 5–1 Tropeano (1–0) Woodruff (2–3) — 10–21 W1 32 August 31 @ Brewers 5–6 Williams (3–1) Turley (0–1) Hader (8) 10–22 L1
September: 9–19 (Home: 8–10; Away: 1–9) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Streak 33 September 1 Cubs 7–8 (11) Jeffress (3–1) Crick (0–1) — 10–23 L2 34 September 2 Cubs 2–8 Hendricks (4–4) Musgrove (0–4) — 10–24 L3 35 September 3 Cubs 6–2 Brubaker (1–0) Mills (3–3) — 11–24 W1 36 September 4 (1) Reds 2–4 (7) Castillo (1–5) Brault (0–2) Iglesias (5) 11–25 L1 37 September 4 (2) @ Reds 4–3 (7) Howard (2–1) Bauer (3–3) Rodríguez (3) 12–25 W1 38 September 5 Reds 2–6 Garrett (1–0) Williams (1–6) — 12–26 L1 39 September 6 Reds 3–2 Rodríguez (1–2) Iglesias (2–3) — 13–26 W1 40 September 8 White Sox 5–4 Rodríguez (2–2) Detwiler (1–1) — 14–26 W2 41 September 9 White Sox 1–8 Dunning (1–0) Brubaker (1–1) — 14–27 L1 42 September 11 @ Royals 3–4 Bubic (1–5) Brault (0–3) Holland (4) 14–28 L2 43 September 12 @ Royals 4–7 Zimmer (1–0) Williams (1–7) Holland (5) 14–29 L3 44 September 13 @ Royals 0–11 Keller (4–2) Kuhl (1–2) — 14–30 L4 45 September 14 (1) @ Reds 1–3 (7) Iglesias (3–3) Howard (2–2) — 14–31 L5 46 September 14 (2) @ Reds 4–9 (7) Romano (1–0) Turley (0–2) — 14–32 L6 47 September 15 @ Reds 1–4 Lorenzen (2–1) Musgrove (0–5) Garrett (1) 14–33 L7 48 September 16 @ Reds 0–1 Castillo (3–5) Brubaker (1–2) Iglesias (8) 14–34 L8 49 September 17 Cardinals 5–1 Brault (1–3) Gomber (0–1) — 15–34 W1 50 September 18 (1) Cardinals 5–6 (7) Reyes (2–1) Williams (1–8) Helsley (1) 15–35 L1 51 September 18 (2) @ Cardinals 2–7 (7) Miller (1–1) Kuhl (1–3) — 15–36 L2 52 September 19 Cardinals 4–5 Woodford (1–0) Howard (2–3) Cabrera (1) 15–37 L3 53 September 20 Cardinals 1–2 Flaherty (4–2) Holland (1–3) Miller (3) 15–38 L4 54 September 21 Cubs 0–5 Lester (2–1) Brubaker (1–3) — 15–39 L5 55 September 22 Cubs 3–2 Rodríguez (3–2) Chafin (1–2) — 16–39 W1 56 September 23 Cubs 2–1 Williams (2–8) Hendricks (6–5) Rodríguez (4) 17–39 W2 57 September 24 Cubs 7–0 Kuhl (2–3) Mills (5–5) — 18–39 W3 58 September 25 @ Indians 3–4 Plutko (2–2) Stratton (2–1) — 18–40 L1 59 September 26 @ Indians 8–0 Musgrove (1–5) Civale (4–6) — 19–40 W1 60 September 27 @ Indians 6–8 Karinchak (1–2) Turley (0–3) Hand (16) 19–41 L1
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement Bold = Pirates team member

Roster

2020 Pittsburgh Pirates
Roster
Pitchers 67 Tyler Bashlor 43 Steven Brault 65 J. T. Brubaker 57 Nick Burdi 62 Blake Cederlind 30 Kyle Crick 75 Austin Davis 63 Miguel Del Pozo 56 Robbie Erlin 49 Michael Feliz 32 Geoff Hartlieb 45 Derek Holland 52 Clay Holmes 54 Sam Howard 35 Keone Kela 23 Mitch Keller 39 Chad Kuhl 70 Nick Mears 59 Joe Musgrove 66 Dovydas Neverauskas 60 Cody Ponce 38 Yacksel Ríos 48 Richard Rodríguez 46 Chris Stratton 72 Nick Tropeano 71 Nik Turley 68 Brandon Waddell 34 Trevor Williams		Catchers 18 John Ryan Murphy 58 Jacob Stallings 80 Andrew Susac Infielders 55 Josh Bell 31 Will Craig 64 Phillip Evans 26 Adam Frazier  2 Erik González 13 Ke'Bryan Hayes 19 Colin Moran 27 Kevin Newman 36 José Osuna 15 J. T. Riddle		Outfielders  6 Anthony Alford  6 Jarrod Dyson  5 Guillermo Heredia 51 Jason Martin 76 Jared Oliva 25 Gregory Polanco 10 Bryan Reynolds  3 Cole Tucker		Manager 17 Derek Shelton Coaches 86 Heberto Andrade (coaching assistant) 16 Tarrik Brock (first base) 89 Jordan Comadena (bullpen catcher) 28 Joey Cora (third base) 41 Rick Eckstein (hitting) 12 Don Kelly (bench) 47 Oscar Marin (pitching) 87 Justin Meccage (bullpen) 85 Mike Rabelo (assistant hitting) 53 Glenn Sherlock (coach)

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Walks; AVG = Batting average; SLG = Slugging average

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	AVG	SLG
Adam Frazier	58	209	22	48	7	0	7	23	1	17	.230	.364
Josh Bell	57	195	22	44	3	0	8	22	0	22	.226	.364
Bryan Reynolds	55	185	24	35	6	2	7	19	1	21	.189	.357
Erik González	50	181	14	41	13	1	3	20	2	8	.227	.359
Colin Moran	52	178	28	44	10	0	10	23	0	19	.247	.472
Gregory Polanco	50	157	12	24	6	0	7	22	3	13	.153	.325
Kevin Newman	44	156	12	35	5	0	1	10	0	12	.224	.276
Jacob Stallings	42	125	13	31	7	0	3	18	0	15	.248	.376
Cole Tucker	37	109	17	24	3	0	1	8	1	5	.220	.275
Ke'Bryan Hayes	24	85	17	32	7	2	5	11	1	9	.376	.682
José Osuna	26	78	6	16	3	0	4	11	0	4	.205	.397
J. T. Riddle	23	67	8	10	2	0	1	1	1	2	.149	.224
John Ryan Murphy	25	58	6	10	2	0	0	2	0	4	.172	.207
Jarrod Dyson	21	51	6	8	0	0	0	5	4	4	.157	.157
Phillip Evans	11	39	6	14	2	0	1	9	0	5	.359	.487
Guillermo Heredia	8	16	2	3	0	0	0	2	1	2	.188	.188
Jared Oliva	6	16	0	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.188	.188
Anthony Alford	5	12	2	3	0	1	1	4	0	1	.250	.667
Jason Martin	7	9	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000
Will Craig	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000
Andrew Susac	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000
Team Totals	60	1932	219	425	76	6	59	210	16	167	.220	.275

Source:

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Trevor Williams	2	8	6.18	11	11	0	55.1	66	42	38	21	49
J. T. Brubaker	1	3	4.94	11	9	0	47.1	48	27	26	17	48
Chad Kuhl	2	3	4.27	11	9	0	46.1	35	26	22	28	44
Steven Brault	1	3	3.38	11	10	0	42.2	29	17	16	22	38
Derek Holland	1	3	6.86	12	5	0	40.2	42	33	31	15	45
Joe Musgrove	1	5	3.86	8	8	0	39.2	33	17	17	16	55
Chris Stratton	2	1	3.90	27	0	0	30.0	26	19	13	13	39
Richard Rodríguez	3	2	2.70	24	0	4	23.1	15	8	7	5	34
Geoff Hartlieb	1	0	3.63	21	0	0	22.1	16	11	9	19	19
Nik Turley	0	3	4.98	25	0	1	21.2	13	13	12	11	20
Mitch Keller	1	1	2.91	5	5	0	21.2	9	7	7	18	16
Sam Howard	2	3	3.86	22	0	0	21.0	17	10	9	9	27
Dovydas Neverauskas	0	3	7.11	17	0	0	19.0	24	17	15	10	23
Cody Ponce	1	1	3.18	5	3	0	17.0	12	7	6	6	12
Nick Tropeano	1	0	1.15	7	0	0	15.2	14	2	2	4	19
Tyler Bashlor	0	0	8.64	8	0	0	8.1	9	8	8	4	6
Kyle Crick	0	1	1.59	7	0	0	5.2	7	6	1	4	7
Nick Mears	0	0	5.40	4	0	0	5.0	4	3	3	7	7
Blake Cederlind	0	0	4.50	5	0	0	4.0	3	2	2	1	4
Yacksel Ríos	0	0	9.00	3	0	0	4.0	3	4	4	2	3
Austin Davis	0	0	2.45	5	0	0	3.2	1	1	1	1	3
Miguel Del Pozo	0	0	17.18	5	0	0	3.2	7	7	7	8	2
Robbie Erlin	0	0	5.40	2	0	0	3.1	5	2	2	1	4
Brandon Waddell	0	0	2.70	2	0	0	3.1	2	1	1	2	2
Nick Burdi	0	1	3.86	3	0	1	2.1	2	1	1	2	4
Keone Kela	0	0	4.50	3	0	0	2.0	3	1	1	1	3
Michael Feliz	0	0	32.40	3	0	0	1.2	4	6	6	2	2
Clay Holmes	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	1.1	2	0	0	0	1
John Ryan Murphy	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	1.0	0	0	0	0	0
Team Totals	19	41	4.68	60	60	6	513.0	451	298	267	249	536

Source:

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Indianapolis Indians	International League
AA	Altoona Curve	Eastern League
A	Bradenton Marauders	Florida State League
A	Greensboro Grasshoppers	South Atlantic League
Short-Season A	West Virginia Black Bears	New York–Penn League
Rookie	Bristol Pirates	Appalachian League
Rookie	GCL Pirates	Gulf Coast League
Rookie	DSL Pirates 1	Dominican Summer League
Rookie	DSL Pirates 2	Dominican Summer League

^[5]