The Pirates win their 81st game by the score of 2-1 today, as they finish off their final home game of the season with a win. While the team was unable to break triple digits on the Bucco Blast sign, they do ensure their 5th winning season in 34 years and will finish above the Cardinals for the 2nd time this century (thank you Alex Stumpf for those tidbits). Paul Skenes conveniently saves one of his better starts for his last start of the year, and Ronny Simon ball on the base paths in the 8th allow the Pirates to squeeze out a narrow one run victory. Watch Cody and Doug break the game down in full detail here:

Bad Paul Skenes is Still a Very Productive Pitcher

Paul Skenes ends his disappointing 2026 campaign today with a great outing. He goes 6.1 innings, strikes out 8, only gives up one run, and looks dominant. This type of performance was far too rare this season for a pitcher of Skenes’ ability. The former ROTY and Cy Young winner is too good for anyone to accept a season of 3.82 ERA baseball. With all that being said, this was a very good year for a starting pitcher in any context. Paul dealt 174 innings, struck out 200 batters, finished with a sub-4 ERA, and was worth over 4 fWAR when it was all said and done. For reference, that makes him the 12th most valuable pitcher in baseball according to Fangraphs. Skenes blames the World Baseball Classic for his drop in performance, but it is important to note that if literally any other pitcher for the Bucs put up that kind of line, we would all be ecstatic. I am not worried in the slightest for Skenes; I think he was less dominant but ultimately very unlucky in this 2026 campaign. I look forward to him returning to sub 3 ERA rates in 2027, however many games there will be.

It’s Nice to Finish Above .500

I am under no delusions about how this season was an objective failure. Ben Cherington and Travis Williams should be forced to hear the words “Period, Full Stop” on repeat whenever they try to sleep at night until the team makes the playoffs. With all that being said, being locked into a Pirates season until September was a nice change of pace and something that does contribute to changing the culture. The Pirates are still trying to overcome a losing culture, where it is the norm to be playing glorified tryouts by the All-Star Break. While missing the playoffs hurts, finish above. 500 establishes a real possibility that this core has enough talent to make the postseason in 2027. Retaining Brandon Lowe is one of the biggest hurdles in the way of making this happen, and there are many doubts that the Pirates are willing to pay him his worth in free agency. With that being said, there is a real belief among the players, as evidenced by their interviews all season. It’s not good enough, but it is a nice step in the right direction for once.

How I Stopped Worrying About the Strikeouts and Learned to Love the Bombs

It is generally a rule that strikeouts are the biggest indicator of someone not being able to be a successful major league player. I have usually subscribed to this theory, but the 2026 Pirates may have disproven it. To no one’s surprise, Brandon Lowe and Oneil Cruz were at the heart of the Pirates’ offensive success today. Lowe scored Cruz with a single in the bottom of the first to tie the game at 1 a piece. The duo also reached base 4 times on the day. Brandon Lowe is top 10 in baseball in whiffs this season, and Oneil Cruz continues to carry 30% strikeout rates even until the end. Despite this, both have clearly been the Pirates’ best offensive stars during the 2026 season. Esmerlyn Valdez has struck out a ton and yet was a major offensive catalyst in the dog days of summer when the team was struggling with injuries. Obviously, too many strikeouts can ruin a career. However, I will take these guys striking out nearly 200 times a season if they will provide home runs and offensive spark that the rest of the lineup cannot provide.