List of Pittsburgh Pirates seasons
The Pittsburgh Pirates have completed 132 seasons in Major League Baseball since joining the National League in 1887. Through 2018, they have played 20,256 regular season games, winning 10,240 and losing 10,016, for a winning percentage of.506. The Pirates are also a combined total of 43—53 in post-season play. Prior to joining the National League in 1887 the franchise compiled a record of 236—296 in five seasons of the American Association.
This list documents the season-by-season records of the Pirates’ franchise including their years as the “Alleghenies”. The Pirates moved from the American Association to the National League after owner William Nimick became upset over a contract dispute, thus establishing the extant franchise. The team currently plays home games at PNC Park which they moved into in 2001. Prior to PNC Park, the Pirates played home games at Three Rivers Stadium and Forbes Field, among other stadiums.
In 1903, the Pirates were defeated by the Boston Americans in the first World Series. The Pirates returned to and won the World Series in 1909, over the Detroit Tigers. Since then the Pirates have won World Series in 1925, 1960, 1971, and 1979. In addition to these five World Series victories the Pirates have won nine National League pennants and qualified for the playoffs fifteen times, six of which were during a run of twelve winning seasons between 1969 and 1980.
The Pirates have had several major periods of failure: the franchise had a losing record every season from 1949 to 1957 and in 1952 suffered the worst record by an established MLB franchise between 1936 and 2002. They did not once make the playoffs during the 1980s and from 1993 to 2012 suffered twenty consecutive seasons with a losing record — setting a United States professional sports record. In 2013 the Pirates won 94 games to end that streak, in the process clinching the National League’s top wild card berth in Major League Baseball’s postseason. The franchise's original colors were red and blue, which were switched to black and gold—colors that all professional Pittsburgh sports franchises now share—for the 1948 season.
Season by season
| World Series Champions † | National League Champions * | Division Champions ^ | Wild card Berth ¤ |
These statistics are current as of Feb 10, 2020.
Record by decade
The following table describes the Pirates' MLB win–loss record by decade.| Decade | Wins | Losses | Pct |
| 1880s | 418 | 504 | |
| 1890s | 649 | 723 | |
| 1900s | 938 | 538 | |
| 1910s | 736 | 751 | |
| 1920s | 877 | 656 | |
| 1930s | 812 | 718 | |
| 1940s | 756 | 776 | |
| 1950s | 616 | 923 | |
| 1960s | 848 | 755 | |
| 1970s | 916 | 695 | |
| 1980s | 732 | 825 | |
| 1990s | 774 | 779 | |
| 2000s | 681 | 936 | |
| 2010s | 723 | 733 | |
| All-time | 10476 | 10312 |
These statistics are from Baseball-Reference.com's Pittsburgh Pirates History & Encyclopedia, and are current as of January 16, 2018.
Footnotes
- The Finish column lists regular season results and excludes postseason play.
- The Wins and Losses columns list regular season results and exclude any postseason play. Regular and postseason records are combined only at the bottom of the list.
- The GB column lists "Games Back" from the team that finished in first place that season. It is determined by finding the difference in wins plus the difference in losses divided by two. In seasons that the Pirates finished in first place, the figure represents the number of games they finished ahead of the second place team.
- NLCS stands for National League Championship Series.
- MVP stands for Most Valuable Player.
- CYA stands for Cy Young Award.
- MOY stands for Manager of the Year.
- ROY stands for National League Rookie of the Year.
- The 1972 Major League Baseball strike forced the cancellation of the first seven games of the season.
- The 1981 Major League Baseball strike caused the season to split into two halves. This caused Major League Baseball to hold the Divisional Series so that the first- and second-half champions could play each other to determine playoff spots for the NLCS and World Series.
- The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike ended the season on August 11, as well as cancelling the entire postseason.
- The official Pirates website uses the spelling of "Alleghenies" rather than "Alleghenys".
- The Pirates first season at Recreation Park.
- The Pirates final season at Recreation Park.
- The Pirates first season at Exposition Park.
- On June 29, 1909, the Pirates played their final game at Exposition Park. The two teams opened Forbes Field the following day, June 30, 1909.
- The Pirates played their final game at Forbes Field on June 28, 1970. Three Rivers Stadium hosted its first Pirates' game on July 16, 1970.
- The Pirates' final season at Three Rivers Stadium.
- The Pirates first season at PNC Park.