Virtual Pirates' dream season ends as Indians sweep World Series

 

I will be serving as general manager/manager of the Pirates in a 2020 season simulation along with 29 others using Out Of The Park Baseball. Feel free to check here for regular updates. I realize baseball is a lot less important than what is going on in the world today but perhaps it can provide a diversion for a few moments.

A recap of the entire 2020 simulation can be found here.

PITTSBURGH – The Virtual Pirates’ magical season ended with a thud.

The Virtual Buccos were swept in the World Series by the Virtual Cleveland Indians, losing 4-1 in Game 4 on Friday night at Virtual PNC Park.

Shane Bieber pitched one-run ball over eight innings to stymie the Pirates and Carlos Santana delivered a bases-loaded double in the fifth inning to break a 1-1 tie.

Universally picked to finished last in the National League Central at the start of the season, the Virtual Corsairs made a shocking run to the Fall Classic.

The Pirates won the division with a 96-66 record, swept the Virtual Washington Nationals in three games in the National League Division Series then downed the Virtual Atlanta Braves in six games to win the National League Championship Series.

However, the Pirates were no match for the Virtual Tribe, which won 104 games during the regular season.

The Indians consistently got the Pirates’ starting pitchers early and none made it past the fifth inning.

Joe Musgrove took the loss in Game 4, surrendering Santana’s big hit. The big right-hander allowed four runs (three earned) and six hits in 4 1/3 innings while striking out four, walking one and throwing 91 pitches.

Francisco Lindor hit a solo home run off Musgrove to lead off the game. The Pirates countered in the bottom half with Gregory Polanco’s RBI double.

However, Bieber shut down the Pirates after that and Brad Hand then pitched the ninth for his first save.

Elias Diaz hit a two-out double in the ninth inning to temporarily keep the Pirates’ season alive, but Travis Swaggerty popped out to the shortstop to end the game.

Polanco had two of the Pirates’ six hits.

Try as he might, bench coach Craig Wilson could not rally the Pirates as he hoped they could become the first team in history to recover from a 3-0 deficit to win a World Series.

Wilson broke out his Jobu voodoo doll in the clubhouse and had all the players and coaches stick pins in it. He also invited former Red Sox first baseman Kevin Millar to pass a cup filled with whiskey around the clubhouse much as he did to rally Boston from a 3-0 deficit to beat the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series.

Speaking of the 2004 Red Sox, the crowd of 38,282 on a 49-degree night even waved hot dogs with chili and onions from the Brighton Hot Dog Shoppe at Cleveland manager Terry Francona – a New Brighton native – to try to distract the Indians. The spin on Bob Prince’s Green Weenie promotion of bygone days also did not work.

Pirates legend Dick Groat, the 1960 NL MVP, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Wilson, the beloved bench coach, tried his best but he just could not prevent the summer of fun from ending on a sad note.

“We had a great year and whole lot of fun,” Wilson said. “But there will always be a part of me that believes if we had won the World Series that we would have supplanted the 2004 Los Angeles Dodgers in history as the greatest team of all time. That’s the only disappointment I take away from an otherwise tremendous season.”

However, in the aftermath of the sweep, Wilson talked about bigger goals for 2021 -- and not just trying to win the World Series.

Wilson would like to put together a group of investors to potentially buy the Virtual Pirates from Bob Nutting.

"That way, we could have hotels rooms on the road the next time we play in the World Series," Wilson said.

Could be interesting.