Pittsburgh Pirates Tickets : The Pirates Are Also Often Referred To As The "bucs"

The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions. The Pirates are also often referred to as the "Bucs" or sometimes the "Buccos".

The franchise joined the National League in its sixth season in 1887 and was competitive from its early years, winning three National League titles from 1901 to 1903, playing in the very first World Series in 1903 and winning their first World Series in 1909 behind Honus Wagner.

The Pirates have had many ups and downs during their long history, most famously winning the 1960 World Series on a walk-off home run by Bill Mazeroski, the only time that Game 7 of the World Series has ever ended with a home run. They also won the 1971 World Series behind Roberto Clemente and the 1979 World Series under the slogan "We Are Family", led by "Pops" Willie Stargell.

Overall the Pirates have won five World Series and lost two. The five that the Pirates won were all seven-game Series. After a run of regular-season success in the early 1990s, the Pirates have struggled more recently, with 18 consecutive losing seasons to date, the longest in North American professional sports.
On April 22 the Pirates suffered their worst loss in franchise history, losing to the Milwaukee Brewers 20-0.During that series against the Brewers, they were outscored 36-1.

On April 27 the Pirates broke a 22 game losing streak at Miller Park, beating the Brewers 7-3. On July 20, they scored nine runs in the first inning, the first time they accomplished that feat since 1989.The very next night, Pedro Alvarez became the first Pirate rookie in history to have multi-home run games on consecutive nights.[30] On August 20, 2010, the Pirates clinched their 18th straight losing season in a row, extending the all-time record in the history of major sports.

On September 24, 2010, the Pirates fell to the Houston Astros 10-7 to reach the century mark in losses for the first time since 2001.On October 4, 2010, the Pirates fired the team's manager, John Russell. Russell went 186-299 in three seasons, equaling a franchise record set by Fred Haney's teams from 1953-55. The 2010 Pirates picked up the third most losses in franchise history, trailing only the 113-loss teams of 1890 and 1952. They also had the sixth worst winning percentage in team history and their worst since 1954.

On May 9, 2011, the Pirates defeated the Dodgers to bring the team's W-L% to .514, the first time over .500 in May since 2004. On July 8, the Pirates defeated the Cubs to enter the All-Star break above the .500 mark for the first time since 1992. The Pirates also sent three players to the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game with the selections of Kevin Correia, Joel Hanrahan and Andrew McCutchen. This marked the first time since 1990 that the team had three All-Stars on the National League team. On July 15, and again on July 18, the Pirates moved into first place of the NL Central. This marked the first two times that the Pirates were in first place this late in the season since 1997.

The rivalry between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Pirates was considered by some to be one of the best rivalries in the National League (NL). The rivalry started when the Pittsburgh Pirates entered play in 1887, four years after the Phillies.
The Phillies and the Pirates remained together after the National League split into two divisions in 1969. The 1970 National League Championship Series (NLCS) marked the first of ten initial postseason series between 1970 and the 1980 NLCS that featured either the Phillies or the Pirates. The only time neither team appeared in the NLCS during that period was in 1973.

Additionally, during the period of two-division play (1969 to 1993), the two National League East division rivals won the two highest numbers of division championships the Pirates nine, and the Phillies six; together, the two teams' 15 championships accounted for more than half of the NL East championships during that span.