Saturday’s Long Lines, Crowd Size Have Pirates GM Ben Cherington Thinking of Playoffs
The lines up and down the streets around PNC Park of Saturday’s game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Guardians were longer than ever in the ballpark’s history.
Fans were lined up in the morning hours for a 4:05 p.m. first pitch, but the main reason for it wasn’t to watch the now 8-14 Pirates on the field.
The Pirates had their first bobblehead giveaway day, which featured ace starter Paul Skenes, who happened to be the Pirates’ starting pitcher.
Videos on social media showed fans lined up all along the Roberto Clemente Bridge and the sidewalks on W General Robinson St. leading to the home plate entrance.
The energy leading up to first pitch and in the early innings prior to the Pirates’ 3-0 loss was palpable, and something that has rarely been seen on the banks of the Allegheny River recently.
Though the Pirates sit in last place in the National League Central through 22 games to begin the season, the lines and crowd size provided general manager Ben Cherington with some added motivation.
“Seeing those lines, you can start to think ahead to a playoff game,” he said on his weekly radio show on 93.7 The Fan. “That’s what you want this environment to be. It’s incredibly motivating because we want to get there. We want to win more games so we can get there. Believe we will.”
While the atmosphere did have a playoff-type feel at times, at least more so than much of the last 10 years since the last playoff game in Pittsburgh, actually getting to the postseason will take much more than a bobblehead giveaway.
The season is only 14% of the way done, but the Pirates are already in a tough position. It will take a drastic — and fairly quick — turnaround to get another ‘Buctober’ crowd back in the blue seats at PNC Park.
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