The NS9 Report is the start to your week. Posted bright and early every Monday morning, I’ll break down the three things that I’m looking for each week in Pirates land.
Pirates vs Cutch Again
I didn’t think we’d see this ever again, but here we are. With the Pirates headed to Texas this week for a three-game series with the Rangers, the Pirates will face franchise legend Andrew McCutchen for the first time since 2022. A lot was said and written about what happened this offseason when the Pirates appeared to string McCutchen along that they would be bringing him back. I gave my final thoughts on that topic here. Cutch eventually realized it wasn’t happening once Marcell Ozuna signed with the Bucs, he scrambled and took a minor league deal with the Rangers, made the team out of camp and here we are.
McCutchen has played in 30 games against the Pirates in his career and holds a slash line of .232/.353/.393 with 3 home runs and 9 RBIs. Something tells me he’ll be extra motivated to stick it to the Pirates this series. So far in 2026, Cutch owns an 89 OPS+ with 1 HR and 5 RBI through 32 plate appearances. He’s also played one game in left field, one game in right field and the rest at DH. It’ll be weird to see Cutch in another team’s uni again. I’m kinda looking forward to it because I’m intrigued to see how he plays and what happens next. How do you feel about seeing Cutch against the Pirates again?
Pirates Rotation is Absurdly Good
We knew what the potential of this rotation could be heading into this season, but 3/5’s of it were unproven, young and likely going to be on inning limits. The innings limit concern is still there, but this rotation is coming together a lot quicker than I think most would have expected. We know Paul Skenes would do his thing and be the best pitcher in the game and Mitch Keller would eat innings, but Keller has been even better, Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft are lighting it up and Carmen Mlodzinski is proving in April that he can be a MLB starter. It’s absolute cinema every time out. Whoever’s turn it is goes out and keeps his team in the game.
Just look at what the Rays faced this past weekend at PNC Park…
Friday: Chandler 6.0 IP, 3 hits, 1 run allowed
Saturday: Skenes 4.0 IP, 3 hits, 0 runs allowed before the rain ended his start early
Sunday: Keller 7.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs allowed
That’s going to get it done, folks. These guys are all performing, they’re healthy and they seem to want to keep the train going each game. Through 22 games this season, the Pirates rotation holds a 2.81 ERA in 109 innings, good for the second best ERA by a rotation behind only the Braves. And they’re 5th in fWAR by a rotation with 2.7. And they’re doing all of this with a below average defense behind them. It’s incredible and I’m enjoying every second of it. I’m still ticked off that the rainstorm Saturday night cost Skenes his full start because the Pirates really should have swept the Rays with that kind of starting pitching.
The numbers are a bit staggering to be honest. This rotation has been elite, and there’s really no other way to describe them. Here’s another wild stat…the rotation has only given up five home runs all season, good for first in MLB ahead of the Tigers who has given up six bombs. That’s through 114.0 innings, just five home runs or 0.41 HR/9, also first in MLB. Ashcraft and Mlod have yet to allow any dingers. I can’t wait to see what they do each night this week against the Rangers and Brewers.
NL Central Can’t Lose
It’s been fun to actually scoreboard watch this early in the season, and it seems as if the NL Central can’t lose right now. Here’s the division’s standings:
There’s only four teams in the American League who are over .500 and there’s five teams in the NL Central over the .500. It’s a bit lame to see this happening in a season where the Pirates are playing well, but there’s not much else you can do about it besides take care of your business and things will work itself out. And of course the Cardinals are on a five-game winning streak and sitting a half game out of first. But the entire division is not going to play .500 or better for the entire season. The Pirates have plenty of games coming up against all the NL Central teams and those will be very important games as this season gets into the dog days of summer. It’s OK for now, don’t worry about this and no need to complain, just keep winning series, stack some wins together and you’ll rise to the top of the division.
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