Look up sad in the dictionary these days and you find a picture of the Pirate Parrot.

Yes, it’s been a sad, sad, sad year for baseball in Pittsburgh.

It wasn’t long ago when the Pirates were the toast of the town. They were contenders, making the playoffs for three straight years, winning 98 games. Fans were into it, too. So into it, in fact, they rattled Reds’ pitcher Johnny Cueto with chants of Cueeetttooo so completely he dropped the ball while standing on the mound.

Those days seem so long ago, don’t they?

The Pirates appear to be bereft of passion as the season draws to a merciful close.

And bereft of offense. Don’t forget offense.

Until a six-run outburst against the Brewers Wednesday, the Buccos had scored just nine runs during a seven-game losing streak and hadn’t held a lead in a game for more than a week.

Let that sink in for a minute. A baseball team. Trailing. For a solid week.

They teased us in mid-summer, creeping up on the struggling Cubs and appearing to sorta have a chance to kinda be in the race.

It was fool’s gold.

The Pirates were never really in it. Not with that lineup. Not with that inconsistent pitching staff.

Even if they had drunken joy-riding Jung Ho Kang and even if they had Starling “I took what?” Marte for those 80 games he lost when he was caught with a banned substance in his veins, the Pirates still had no legitimate shot.

They had about as much a chance as John Jaso had of getting a base hit in July.

These Pirates was severely flawed even with all hands on deck.

There’s no player in the lineup a team fears, not even Andrew McCutchen, who has lost the form that made him a National League MVP.

Sure, he had a brilliant June in which he batted .411 and a solid July, but every other month this season he’s been mediocre to poor.

Your best player needs to be consistently the best. McCutchen wasn’t consistent.

Or, arguably, the best.

That distinction most likely belonged to a Josh — either Josh Harrison or Josh Bell.

If Josh Harrison or Josh Bell are your best position players, you have a problem.

And a losing record.

And a .075 chance.

As questionable as the play was on the field, so was the decision-making off of it from a management that seems more intent on pinching pennies than winning baseball games.

Dumping Juan Nicasio was a clear indication the club was forfeiting the season.

That move told more about the motivations of the front office than anything else. It also soured more than a few fans on the future.

And that future looks, well, sad.

McCutchen will likely be traded in the offseason. Same for Gerrit Cole.

It will be a full-on rebuild mode and ownership will cry small-market hardship again.

Head to YouTube or the DVR of those great Buccos’ games of yore, because the dark days have returned.

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.