Pittsburgh Pirates Season Ends - Now What?

Disappointment is replaced by Hope...

The magical Pittsburgh Pirates 2013 season has ended.  Let that sink in.  No more baseball games this year.  No more, well I will just wait until "next game".  No more "We will get them next time around this season."  Its over.  This team of destiny saw their luck, their hopes, and their aspirations dashed by Adam Wainwright and the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday Night.  I didn't write anything about this yesterday for a reason.  I wanted to let it sink is, and I can't say that its sunk in completely yet.  This Pirates team didn't pull a Penguins and get swept in the playoffs, no they had the Cardinals on the brink of elimination, but that game 4 loss turned out to be the game that swung the momentum to St. Louis and that was it. 

If you follow all 3 of the professional Pittsburgh sports teams, I want you to think back to the Penguins in 2007.  The youngest team in the NHL, the Pens, were headed up against the experienced and veteran Ottawa Senators.  The Senators ousted the Pens handily, but you had that feeling that the Penguins would be back, and they would be better.  The next season they made it to the Stanley Cup Championship only to lose to the Red Wings in 6.  I remember some Penguins players staying on the ice to watch the celebration...knowing that would be them in due time.  This sound familiar?  The Pirates are a young baseball team that isn't very seasoned when it comes to the playoffs, and you saw players like Jordy Mercer and others standing in the dugout watching the Cardinals celebrate their birth into the NLCS to face the Dodgers.    I get the same feeling about the Pirates that I did about those Penguins.  They will be back, and they will be better.

Does this help the sting of the loss?  Certainly not.  The Pirates were a team that swept all of us off our feet.  Like a bad romance novel, the Pirates were our "dream date" for 162+ games, and now its over.  It stings, thats for sure.  Is the future bright?  Sure is, but that doesn't make this any easier.  The Pirates now have the challenge of meeting expectations.  Want to know what that can turn into?  Ask the Baltimore Orioles.  They were the Pirates of last year and failed to make the postseason this year.  Nothing is guaranteed in 162 baseball games, which is why you need to take advantage of any opportunity you can get.  People laughed at Clint Hurdle when he said he could see this team winning 95 games.  They won 94.  The bar is set high for this team next year, and alot of what will decide their fate is how the Pirates' front office handles certain contracts and signings in the off season.  It should be exciting, but I can honestly say that there is no way I can watch playoff baseball right now for the pure fact that the Pirates broke my heart again.  Hopefully I won't have to wait till I'm 50 to experience the playoffs again...