Did you have free agency turned off? I have seen instances where the Pirates become a powerhouse in the 1st decade of the 20th century if I don't allow some form of free agency. The reason being in 1901-1903 they were the strongest team in the NL, the NL was weaken by many of their stars jumping over to the new upstart American League. Here is a good article about the 1902 Pirates (
http://www.pubdim.net/baseballlibrar...902pirates.stm)