The Pirates have the most interesting psychology, if that’s how to put it, of any Pittsburgh sports franchise. Perhaps of any team on the continent.

The Pirates are the little engine that could but won’t. They’re a perpetual underdog with a great ballpark and hot dogs piled with pierogis and pot roast. The Pirates’ record over nearly the last half-century dictates that PNC Park should be a graveyard. They profit madly, insulting their fans by skimping on payroll.

But their stooge media accentuates the positive. All the marks need is for the carrot to be dangled a little, and they come running.

Witness last season when a 20-8 start translated to an increase in attendance of over 400,000, a one-third jump from the season before.

The Pirates ended up winning 76 games, going 56-78 after the aforementioned hot beginning. They finished eight games out of a wild-card spot and 16 games off the NL Central lead.

But 1.6 million showed up. And that was before PNC Park had hot dogs piled with pierogis and pot roast.

Pirates fans don’t demand a winner. They don’t even boo much.

Compare that to the Penguins, who made the playoffs from 2007-22, got three Stanley Cups in that span and were a legit threat to win championships from 2008-18. It was an incredible run.

But now that the inevitable descent is happening, a significant fraction of “fans” treats it like a despicable betrayal: “They’re hard to watch now.” Fingers are pointed, outrage dispensed.

Well, the Pirates have been hard to watch for a long time.

They haven’t won a playoff series since 1979 and have had four winning seasons since 1992. They dismantled a 98-win team following the 2015 season in the name of financial gain. (That’s the definition of a despicable betrayal.)

But the Pirates never disappoint because they always disappoint. Some fans actually defend owner Bob Nutting’s thrift. Nutting’s greatest trick is making customers care about his money like it’s their money even as he takes their money and makes it his money.

It’s an amazing phenomenon.

This season should be glorious.

The Pirates are simply previewed: Decent lineup, solid bullpen, rotten rotation. Trevor Bauer is pitching in Mexico, Paul Skenes in Class AAA. One of the Pirates’ starting pitchers is named Falter. I bet he does.

But the Pirates figure to be a bit better, which will birth another phenomenon: Pirates fans will treat the race to finish .500 as akin to challenging for a division title and celebrate such “achievement” thusly. (That’s if it happens. It won’t.)

That’s the unique psychology mentioned above: The Pirates have created their own reality. You don’t have to win to be feted.

The Pirates could still try to be a real baseball team.

Skenes could be promoted. If you’re concerned about Skenes transitioning to a pro workload, have him pitch two innings as part of a bullpen day. Worry about winning, not service clock.

Skenes was the first pick overall in last year’s draft. The fourth pick was in the starting lineup Thursday for the defending World Series champs. Wyatt Langford is good enough, and the Texas Rangers want to win.

The Pirates could re-enact a memorable scene from “Major League.” GM Ben Cherington calls Bauer in Mexico and invites him to join the Pirates. Bauer replies: “Is that you, Tolbert? This isn’t very funny, you know. If you’re going to pull this crap, at least you could have said you were from the Yankees.”

In the meantime, Beat ’em, Bucs.

Nobody should believe. But many do.

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