Pirates’ blazing young rotation is drawing impossible 2015 Mets comparisons

If the Pittsburgh Pirates fail to reach their postseason aspirations this season, it will not be because of their starting pitching. Headlined by Paul Skenes, the Pirates young rotation is arguably the best in baseball. Heck, the Pirates rotation is so good that, despite a bullpen ERA that ranks 19th in baseball, Pittsburgh's team ERA is still eighth-best in the league at 3.73.

As is usually the case when dealing in this industry in particular, with lofty praise often comes impossible expectations. MLB analyst Tom Verducci compared the Pirates workhorses with the 2015 New York Mets, a group that included the likes of Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard.

How the 2026 Pirates starting rotation compares to the 2015 Mets

The Pirates rotation is loaded, and Verducci's clip doesn't even fully take into account the return of Jared Jones, or the eventual promotion of Seth Hernandez. Add in that Bubba Chandler is still finding his groove, and you can start to understand why these Pirates young arms get the fanbase so excited.

I'm surely missing a few, but the Pirates rotation isn't just young and deep. What ought to make the aspect of facing them terrifying for the rest of the NL Central is that this group isn't close to complete.

Jones had top-of-the-rotation potential before an injury cost him the 2025 season. Hernandez is a top-100 prospect in all of baseball per FanSided's Eric Cole. And Chandler, once again, hasn't pitched at close to his full potential just yet.

But, are they the 2015 Mets? A quick comparison makes that a tough standard to match.

The similarities between some of the young pitchers on the Pirates staff and what those Mets offered is relatively simple: they just go after you.

Pittsburgh has one of the highest four-seam fastball usage in MLB, and they top out at around 96 MPH as a pitching staff. That mark is also the best in baseball. Much like deGrom, Harvey and Syndergaard before them, Skenes, Ashcraft and most of this Pittsburgh rotation knows it can overpower any hitter, man to man.

Those young Mets starters, especially Harvey, deGrom and Syndergaard, dominated their National League counterparts in the postseason. deGrom led the way with a 2.88 playoff ERA, but Harvey and Syndergaard weren't far behind at 3.04 and 3.32 apiece.

As Verducci said, these Pirates pitchers are finally starting to feel a bit more established as big leaguers, rather than young arms fighting for their roster spots. However, pitching under the bright lights of October is a different story.

And as long as we're talking about the entire pitching staff, something's gotta give with this Pittsburgh bullpen. Gergory Soto has (for the most part) held his own alongside Dennis Santana, but there's a lot of room for this group to grow, which could force Ben Cherington into some awkward decisions around the trade deadline.

For all his late-career faults, the 2015 Mets could trot Jeurys Familia, then at the top of his game, out in the ninth inning of any game and know the end result. Familia had a 0.61 ERA and five saves in the postseason that year.

Yes, these Pirates starters are top-tier, but let's all take a deep breath before comparing the entire staff to one of the best in recent baseball history.

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