Futilitywatch 09: Playing Out the String

Futilitywatch '09 is a our semi-regular update on the Pittsburgh Pirates and their march toward their record 17th consecutive losing season.

After 12 losses in 13 games, the Pittsburgh Pirates managed to rally the troops and sweep the Milwaukee Brewers this week. That won't keep the Bucs from their 17th consecutive losing season and it might not keep them out of last place, but given the bad blood between the Pirates and Brewers it was about as gratifying as meaningless mid-August sweeps go.

Still, with just 12 losses to go before the historic 82nd loss, history is bearing down heavily on this team whether they want it or not. The longest losing streak in the history of professional sports. Think about that. Or try not to, if you're a Pirate fan.

Since Last Week

The most encouraging part about watching the Pirates sweep the Brewers is the faint hope that maybe some of the players on the club right now (besides Andrew McCutchen, of course) might have some sort of long-term value. Ronny Cedeno has, at the very least been an adequate replacement for Jack Wilson. Delwyn Young hasn't looked hopeless turning double plays at second base. Garrett Jones has cooled down considerably in the last few weeks, but he's still on a 50-homer pace in 2009. Ross Ohlendorf and Zach Duke are continuing to pitch well.

Taken with the group their in now, these players aren't likely to get the Pirates any closer to a playoff spot than the group that Neal Huntington showed to the door in July, but grouped with two good-looking draft picks and some other young talent that Huntington managed to buy low on. It sounds crass, but actual wins and losses aren't as important to the Pirates right now as improving individual performances that may contribute down the road.

A Little Bit of History

Seventeen years. Seventeen years! I've been trying to think of a way to put seventeen years of losing into real perspective this week, but I'm struggling a bit to find the right way to do this. There have been ten different World Series winners over the past 17 years. Two of those clubs (the Diamondbacks and the Marlins, one of three teams to win multiple World Series) weren't even in the league when the Pirates last made the playoffs in 1992.

When Sid Bream slid across the plate in October 1992, George HW Bush was still president and his son hadn't even been elected governor of Texas yet. When Christina of Sweden was 17 years old, she'd been Queen for eleven years. A 17 year old today would be a junior in high school, probably with a driver's license, and not one memory of the Pittsburgh Pirates having a winning season.

Perhaps this is more illustrative; the Pirates haven't lost 17 games in a row since a ridiculous 23-game losing streak in 1890. Baseball wasn't even baseball in 1890. In fact, they've only had three losing streaks of 12-games or longer since the turn of the 20th century (12-gamers in 1914 and 1939 and a 13-gamer in 2006).

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, THIS LOSING STREAK IS APPROACHING THE LENGTH OF THE LIFECYCLE OF A CICADA.

I'm sorry. I'm a Pirate fan. I overdosed on perspective.

The Numbers

There's only one number left. It's 12.