Pittsburgh Sports are Upside Down

Anyone that is a Yinzer knows being from Pittsburgh means you are a sports fan. The city of Pittsburgh loves their sports teams, and we have been spoiled. Five World Series titles, five Stanley Cup championships, and six Super Bowls. A national championship from the University of Pittsburgh Panthers in football was won in 1976. Pittsburgher’s have been graced with winners since the 1970s but the past few years have been downright dismal.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have missed the playoffs three straight seasons now with the past three campaigns all finishing with the team fifth out of eight in their division from 2022-2024 and this past season dropping to seventh. Prior to that, the Pens lost in the first round of the playoffs three times in four seasons and once in the qualifying round. Eight years have gone by since the Penguins repeated as league champions.

It might be more of a misery over at PNC Park. Everything came to a head today with the firing of manager Derek Shelton. This was a long time coming.

The Pirates are playing at a winning percentage of .444 as of this writing and have lost seven in a row and 10 of the last 11. As per an earlier article I wrote about pitching ace Paul Skenes that he might be entering a sophomore slump, with two straight losses and his record now 3-4, this belief might be coming to fruition. Last season Skenes was whiffing opposing batters at an alarming rate. In 2025, thus far he has just 47Ks in 48 2/3 innings.

In 2024, Skenes ERA was 1.96 at the close of the season. A year later he is riding a 2.77 mark. With just 32 walks last year he has already put 12 men on base, and we are early in the season. As of now it looks like the Buccos are heading for another losing season where they are on track for somewhere around 90-100 losses. The last appearance for the Pirates was 2015 so it’s been 10 long years since the last postseason appearance. 

Fans have been calling for owner Bob Nutting to sell the team and we know that won't happen. While the New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, and the New York Yankees primarily are spending millions of dollars on their rosters, the Pittsburgh Pirates can’t compete with those kind of contracts and thus they remain losers. Perennially. The outlook to seasons ahead is bleak and in the National League Central Division, the other teams are just far ahead of the Pirates in player talent. 

Then you have our most loved team in Pittsburgh, the Steelers. Much has been made about Mike Tomlin’s 17 winning seasons, but more is being made about his five-game string of first round playoff losses. The last time the Black and Gold advanced past the first round in the postseason was when they reached the AFC title game in 2016, nine seasons ago. Then you have their current situation. Mike Tomlin and GM Omar Khan have been wooing Aaron Rodgers giving the All-Pro quarterback every benefit of the doubt while the ex-Jet and Packer takes his leisurely time to decide whether to continue playing and only with Pittsburgh or retiring.

The chase for Rodgers has become an embarrassing joke and a slap to the face of Mason Rudolph who was brought back to Pittsburgh replacing both Justin Fields and Russell Wilson. While we think Rudolph should be the starter, if Rodgers signs with the Steelers, then it’s back to the bench for Rudolph. That’s simply wrong. Rodgers is a one-year answer and on May 7 the Steelers traded George Pickens to Dallas for a third-round draft pick next year and another the following year. That’s one less weapon for Rudolph or Rodgers.

As for Pickens, he was a nutcase and a locker room cancer but is talented. I don’t have a problem with him being traded but what we received in return is my problem. We didn’t get enough. As for the outlook for this team, it’s not good. There is plenty of young talent, but the state of the Steelers has seemed to worsen since losing five straight games to end their season. I like many of their draft picks and signing DK Metcalf is a plus, but they simply don’t seem to be an improved team over last season. 

There is another major football team in the city, and they are the Panthers from the University of Pittsburgh. In 2024 they finished barely above .500 at 7-6 and this after a final record in 2023 of 3-9. Aside from the college football scene the three pro teams just seem to be mismanaged in all aspects. 

The Pirates are a complete mess. The Steelers are a middle of the road team without any scary weapons on offense or defense at the moment. The Penguins have 10 players over the age of 30 with superstars Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby as the oldest at 38 and 37, respectively. Kris Letang is also 37 and Erik Karlsson is 34. The best players on the team are past their prime. That doesn’t bode well for seasons ahead.

Do we really think the Pirates will turn it around without Shelton? A new manager does not change the talent level on the roster. Is there a way to make the Bucs a contender? I think not. Not anytime soon anyway. Attendance at PNC Park is sure to steadily drop as the season grows longer and things at one of the most beautiful parks in Major League Baseball have even taken an uglier turn as of late. Not with baseball but with fans. 

First, we saw fan Kavan Markwood celebrating an Andrew McCutchen play by pouring beer on himself and then tumbling 21 feet over the outfield wall rendering himself unconscious and in critical condition with a broken neck among other things. Then there was an usher working for the Pirates getting into a brutal fist fight with a fan that led to solid punches by the usher to the face of the fan and then that same employee whipping the fan with a belt. It’s bad enough that the baseball team sucks but then park employees assaulting fans?

As for the Penguins, Mike Sullivan was fired so a new coach is being sought. This is the same coach who last led the team to multiple Stanley Cup titles. Over at Acrisure Stadium, Mike Tomlin is being commended for never having a losing season. He did lead the team to a Super Bowl victory, but the roster was mostly players put there by Bill Cowher. 

I’ve contended that if Aaron Rodgers comes to town and is the starting quarterback then the Steelers either fail to make the playoffs with Rodgers barking the signals or they get there and lose in the first round again, it’s Mike Tomlin’s job that he should lose. A Rodgers experiment that fails would be on the shoulders of Khan and Tomlin and there can be no excuses. This is their baby, and if it happens, and the season ends on a whimper, it is then time for Tomlin to go. 

Pittsburgh sports fans want winners. They are hungry and desperate for a winner. The Steelers may have posted winning records for years but that’s not enough for the fans. That’s understandable. When Ben Roethlisberger was in his prime and calling signals, he made the team around him better on offense. We don’t have that anymore. Anyone can understand the frustration that is showing among Pittsburgh faithful for all the teams. It doesn’t have to be like this, but we ask ourselves how much longer will this go on? 



While Pittsburgh diehards will continue to back their city teams, the agony must stop.