Pirates must win their final game of the season to overhaul Mamelodi Sundowns at the top of the table, with the latter having completed their campaign as they look ahead to the second leg of the CAF Champions League final.
They have been here before, with their last two title wins involving must-win games on the final day of the campaign.
Here is how Pirates clinched their four league titles in the PSL era.
2000/01
It was a rocky and tragic season for Pirates despite winning the league, with threats aimed at coach Gordon Igesund, but they ended up as champions by a point from rivals Kaizer Chiefs.
Pirates claimed 61 points in what was then a 34-game season, scoring the most goals (60) but also conceding, on average, one per game.
Pirates were runaway leaders at one stage, but a poor run of form following the Ellis Park disaster, in which 43 fans lost their lives in April 2001, saw that advantage whittled down to nothing.
Despite the team still being top of the league, disgruntled fans stormed the training ground and assaulted Igesund.
But the coach, and the squad, held their nerve and the title was secured in the penultimate match of the campaign at a packed Pam Brink Stadium as they defeated Ajax Cape Town 3-0 to take an unassailable lead in the championship.
Goals from Jerry Sikhosana, Pollen Ndlanya and Thabang Lebese sealed the three points and, although they lost their final game of the campaign 1-0 to Chiefs, they could not be caught after their win over the Urban Warriors.
It was the team’s first league title in seven years.
2002/03
Zimbabwean coach Roy Barreto led Pirates to the title two years later in what was the first season with 16 teams in the Premiership.
This time their victory was more emphatic as they again managed 61 points, six more than Pitso Mosimane’s SuperSport United in second place. Chiefs finished sixth and Sundowns all the way down in 10th.
This title was built more on defensive prowess than free-scoring forwards, with the team netting 41 goals in their 30 games but conceding only 16. They claimed 18 victories and lost five times.
The title was clinched following a 1-1 draw with Wits University at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace in Rustenburg as they came from behind late on in their second-last game of the campaign, before a goal from the late Lesley Manyathela handed them the point they needed in the 82nd minute.
They drew their final game 1-1 with Jomo Cosmos, but by then had lifted the crown, boosted by five wins in a row before their draw with Wits that took them clear at the top.
2010/11
There was final-day drama in this title race as Pirates had to rely on a costly slip-up from Ajax Cape Town on the final day to be crowned champions.
They also needed an 84th-minute winner from Isaac Chansa against Lamontville Golden Arrows to claim a 2-1 success, with Bongani Ndulula also on the scoresheet.
That result took Pirates to 60 points, but destiny was still in the hands of Ajax, who would top the table if they beat 12th-placed Maritzburg United in Cape Town.
While not a foregone conclusion, it was assumed coach Foppe de Haan’s young side would do so, but a mixture of nerves and a howler from veteran goalkeeper Hans Vonk meant they drew 2-2.
That left both sides on 60 points, but Pirates had a +18 goal difference compared to Ajax’s +14, and it was The Buccaneers who triumphed.
It was one of the most thrilling ends to a title race, with only two points separating champions Pirates and Sundowns in fourth place.
Heartbreak for Ajax, but a first title win in eight years for Pirates under Dutch coach Ruud Krol.
2011/12
The Buccaneers made it back-to-back championship wins and this time had to see off the challenge of plucky Moroka Swallows.
Pirates finished with 58 points, two more than Swallows, as they defeated Lamontville Golden Arrows 4-2 on the final day of the campaign. It was the second time in their history that they had been back-to-back winners after 1975 and 1976.
It also capped a remarkable spell in which they claimed six trophies in two seasons under Krol and then Augusto Palacios.
Lucky Lekgwathi put Pirates ahead, but two goals from Golden Arrows rocked them and they trailed 2-1, meaning it was game on for Swallows.
Siyabonga Sangweni drew the visitors level at 2-2 by half-time, though, and in the second period they took control.
Benni McCarthy put them ahead with a header and then added another goal from a superb free-kick to put the result beyond doubt.
In the end Pirates needed the win, with a draw not enough as Swallows’ superior goal difference would have left them top had McCarthy not managed those two goals.