The past three seasons one of the biggest strengths of the Pittsburgh Pirates was a dominant bullpen. During the three year stretch of 2013 through 2015, the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen was simply one of the best in all of baseball. In this three year stretch the Pirate bullpen ranked second in the Majors in ERA (2.94), fifth in FIP (3.48), sixth in xFIP (3.62), and eighth in WAR (10.8).
However, in the 2016 season the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen has taken a step backward. Overall on the season the Pirate bullpen ranks 16th in the Majors in ERA (3.