Pirates’ late season disaster could have a surprisingly hopeful ending

The Pittsburgh Pirates finished the first half of the season sitting pretty with a 50-47 record. They had needs, but they seemed to be on track for their first playoff appearance since 2015. A rough August, however, has seen them stumble below .500 and as many as 6.5 games back in the NL Wild Card race.

It's too early to throw dirt on Pittsburgh, but the hole has certainly been dug, and it's deep. Paul Skenes is broken. The offense, something that Ben Cherington had worked to fix over the offseason and had become formidable, has disappeared just as the relief corps has been given the reinforcements necessary to stop blowing leads.

It's frustrating, but is it understandable? Josh Harrison thinks so.

"For me, it is reminiscent of some of those '11 and '12 years when we were in a position [in] late July-early August and then things happen really quickly, and when you have teams like this, unfortunately you go through spells like this where some teams just need to learn how to win," Harrison said on the Bucco Territory podcast.

Harrison, of course, came up as a young player on those 2011 and 2012 Pirates teams that went 72-90 and 79-83, respectively, before winning 94 games in 2013, kicking off a stretch of three-straight playoff appearances.

These are necessary growing pains that the Pirates must go through

Harrison alludes to the inconsistency between the lineup, the rotation, and the bullpen. The combination of the three units failing to click has led to winnable games slipping away. Not being able to grind through when things were going well earlier has exacerbated how bad things are now, when it seems that nothing is going right.

That's in part because this is still an up-and-coming young team. There were many holes that needed to be filled from the 2025 roster, and unfortunately, not all of them were taken care of over the offseason. The trade deadline bullpen additions will help, and this winter Ben Cherington can attack the remaining needs to shore up the club.

In the meantime, the youngsters on the team are learning valuable lessons, and we've already seen some of the benefits of that.

Take Braxton Ashcraft as a prime example. After a red-hot start to the season, he had hit a wall and went into his last start on August 13 with a 6.67 ERA since July 1. He then turned in an 85-pitch complete-game gem against the Miami Marlins.

“We've been on a stretch where the bullpen's been a little bit banged up, [so] going in and being able to cover at least six and end up going to full nine ... was huge, not only for me," Ashcraft said following the electrifying performance.

That's exactly the kind of development that shows a young player is learning how to win, looking adversity in the face, and coming out on top. The Pirates need more of that, but it's an encouraging start.

It's frustrating for a fan base that has been waiting to win for so long to be told that more patience is needed, but this is the kind of thingthat's common among teams coming out of a rebuild. If the Pirates take these tough lessons to heart, they'll be better for it in 2027 and beyond.

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