By Adry Torres

It’s been a while since the Pittsburgh Pirates were worth of a mention this late in the season.

You have to go back all the way to 1997 when they were eliminated from making the playoffs in the final week of the season, losing the NL Central despite having a losing record and operating under a $9 million payroll.

They’ve suffered some of the worst season during what’s been a stretch of 19 losing seasons, losing 100 games twice during that span and at least 90 games eight times including last season when we believed it was finally their year until that one night in July.

Read more

Jon Paul Morosi is a national MLB writer for FOXSports.com

Courtesy FOXSports.com

The All-Star Game on Tuesday will showcase a record five major league rookies, including wunderkinds Mike Trout and Bryce Harper. A decade of revenue sharing has drawn the 30 franchises closer together, resulting in bizarre word combinations such as “first-place Washington Nationals” and “division-leading Pittsburgh Pirates.” Major League Baseball is in the midst of an attendance boom.

Our national pastime is changing, in ways that have not become clear until now. The sharp decrease (if not complete eradication) of performance-enhancing drugs has initiated an epoch of dominant pitching and monthly no-hitters. But that is only part of the story.

The denouement of the Steroid Era transformed the way we watch baseball — for the better.

Juiced-up sluggers, sluggish paces and slow-pitch softball scores are out. Speed, athleticism and savvy defensive shifts are in. Players, managers and even general managers — thank you, Sandy Alderson — have brought personality to a sometimes staid sport through their use of Twitter.

Read more

By Jose M. Romero / @RomeroJoseM

For Fox Deportes

 Rod Barajas has put together a long career in Major League Baseball, and the Pittsburgh Pirates catcher has at least two accomplishments that not many others in the game can claim.

He has a World Series ring with the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2001, and he got to play a full season and part of another for his hometown team, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Read more