VOTE: Pirates over/under on wins in 2022

The Steamer projections for 2022 were released this week, and it had the team win totals listed. The projection for the Pittsburgh Pirates was a 74-88 record, or 13 games better than what they finished this year.

That may seem high, but I don’t think anyone is surprised to see that the Buccos are considered “improving”. It’s hard not to when you reach the depths that the Pirates have.

If you have any questions about Steamer ratings, here’s the rundown from MLB.com. Steamer is considered pretty accurate as far as projections go:

Steamer is a system of projections developed by Jared Cross — a high school science teacher in Brooklyn — and two of his former students, Dash Davidson and Peter Rosenbloom. It is currently used by Fangraphs as its primary projection system for individual players.

According to Steamer’s website, the projection system got its name because St. Ann’s High School goes by the nickname the “Steamers.” The system began simply as part of an independent research program at the high school, on which Davidson and Rosenbloom teamed up with Cross.

Like other projection systems, Steamer uses past performance and aging trends to develop a future projection for players. It also uses pitch-tracking data to help forecast pitchers. On Fangraphs, the projections are updated daily and predict each player’s numbers over the course of the remainder of the season.

Obviously, no one is claiming that every one of Steamer’s predictions will come true, but it is widely regarded as one of the most accurate predictors in the industry.

So there you have it, Bucs fans. And now is the time to give us your thoughts on where the Bucs will finish on the that projection: Over, under or just right?