The Pittsburgh Pirates hosted the Miami Marlins, as well as a few fans, for a Major League Baseball game Wednesday night, in what was an embarrassing scene at PNC Park.
I said “a few fans” because wow was attendance low at one of the most beautiful ballparks in MLB.
This isn’t too much of shocker, considering both teams are well out of playoff contention.
But it runs deeper than that as the Pirates, led by owner Bob Nutting, slashed payroll last offseason from $86 million to $74 million (on Opening Day) in a move that rightly angered fans and has led many to tune the team out until something is done.
And what did that get the Pirates?
Scenes like this moments before the first pitch:
Yikes.
According to the box score on MLB.com, 9,043 was the announced attendance. But it sure looks like a lot of those people either got stuck in traffic or opted to stay at home and do anything else with their lives.
It’s a shame what’s happened to this franchise, which went to the playoffs from 2013 to 2015 but has now become sad mess. Pittsburgh is a great sports town and deserves better than this from its MLB franchise.
The Pirates won the game on a walk-off single, but if nobody is there to see it does it really count?
Fans let out their frustrations about the state of their franchise:
