Pirates are the painful exception to an eye popping MLB playoff trend

The Pittsburgh Pirates have spent the final weeks of the season showing everyone what could have been. Now there’s another statistic that makes their absence from October look even worse.

According to TJStats, entering Wednesday, the Pirates ranked seventh in Major League Baseball in total team WAR. The six teams ahead of them were the Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays. Immediately behind Pittsburgh were the San Diego Padres and Cleveland Guardians.

Notice anything?

The Dodgers and Brewers have already won their divisions. The Rays have clinched the AL East. The Yankees and Red Sox have secured playoff spots. The Cubs and Padres entered Wednesday occupying National League Wild Card positions, while Cleveland leads the AL Central.

And then, sitting right in the middle of all of them, are the Pirates. Eliminated.

It would be easier to stomach another missed postseason if Pittsburgh simply hadn't assembled enough talent. That's been the story too many times before. But this year is different.

WAR obviously isn't a perfect statistic, and baseball isn't played on a spreadsheet. It doesn't account perfectly for when injuries occur, how efficiently talent is deployed or whether a bullpen melts down on the exact night it can least afford to. But that's exactly why Pittsburgh ranking this highly feels so painful.

The Pirates weren't hopelessly outclassed. They weren't several stars away from belonging in the playoff conversation. By one broad measurement of roster value, they were operating in the same neighborhood as almost exclusively postseason teams.

They simply didn't turn that value into enough wins when it mattered, that and should make the front office's evaluation of 2026 considerably more uncomfortable.

Nearly every team surrounding Pirates in total WAR is October bound, making another missed postseason even harder to excuse

The Pirates lost too many winnable games during the first half because their bullpen couldn't protect leads. Their offense endured stretches when the pieces simply didn't fit together. Injuries took Oneil Cruz, Konnor Griffin, Ryan O'Hearn and others out of the lineup at damaging times. Marcell Ozuna's disastrous season occupied far too many plate appearances for far too long.

There were also stretches when Pittsburgh's rotation — expected to be the backbone of the roster — wasn't nearly as dominant as envisioned.

Individually, enough players still accumulated value for the Pirates to finish near the top of baseball in total WAR. Collectively, they couldn't make it matter soon enough. That's the distinction the Pirates can't gloss over when they point toward their strong finish as evidence that they're close.

They probably are close, and that's precisely what makes missing the playoffs so frustrating.

The Pirates don't need to look at this ranking and pat themselves on the back for building a roster that compares favorably with playoff teams. They need to look at the eight teams surrounding them and ask why virtually everyone else turned that value into October baseball.

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