This team playing good baseball in the first couple weeks of the season is not uncommon. However, if they can do the same thing this year, it won't be the same as these last five years.
The reason for that is because the Pirates are a team that is set up to get a lot better as the early parts of the season progress. The main reason for that will be the addition of A.J. Burnett. So far the rotation has looked great, and has all the makings of the best rotation the Pirates have had in a long time. The addition of Burnett will really strengthen it and you'll have five starters in the rotation capable of going out and shutting down other teams. They aren't going to be consistent, but we'll have hope every night of getting a dominant start. If the Pirates can play good baseball through this nine game road trip, they are just going to get that much better when Burnett joins the team later in the month.
Pedro Alvarez is another key guy that could make this team a lot better as the season goes on. He isn't playing well right now. He has had only a few good swings so far this season, and he's already creeping up on the number of good swings he had during March. This is a big if, but if Alvarez can continue to work and put together better at-bats, we could be looking at a guy that's turning into a very powerful big league hitter. He's not going to hit for good average and he's going to strike out a ton this year, there's no getting around that, but if he can improve through this year it's going to help the team get better and better.
In past years, the team seemed to have reached their peak at the beginning of the season. They had weak pitching rotations that could take advantage of some cold offenses in the early weeks of April, but once everyone was getting into midseason form and they had seen these pitchers toss a few times, the staff turned into a liability. The pitching rotation is different this year. Sure, they have their injury concerns and some guys that could let us down at times, but all-in-all it's a much better rotation and it is much better suited to put together a strong full season.
The schedule this month is gruesome. They play some of their toughest games early in the year, which will only make things easier and once they face some easier competition in coming months. If the team can have another one of these hot starts against tough competition, that certainly bodes well for what they'll do later in the year.
You should always take these games and weeks of baseball with a grain of salt, but things are seeing up differently this year and a hot start could mean more than usual.