Pirates should be watching Milwaukee’s 2-0 lead as an offseason blueprint

The Milwaukee Brewers are one win away from the NLCS, and the Pittsburgh Pirates should be paying very close attention to how they got there.

Thre Brewers didn’t win 103 games by assembling the National League’s most star-studded roster. They won with depth, development, versatility and very few glaring weaknesses — exactly the kind of formula Pittsburgh should be trying to replicate this offseason.

The encouraging part is that the Pirates already possess the piece Milwaukee might covet most: a young pitching foundation built around Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft.

Now comes the harder question. Can Pittsburgh build enough offense around that group to take advantage of these years before its biggest competitive advantage — elite, inexpensive pitching — starts getting considerably more expensive?

Pittsburgh can enter 2027 with Skenes, Jones, Chandler and Ashcraft as the foundation of its rotation. Few organizations would turn down that collection of young arms, and the Pirates have additional pitching depth behind them.

Milwaukee would probably love to begin its roster construction from that starting point. What the Brewers have done better is construct an offense without depending on two or three players to carry the entire operation.

The Brewers have built around Jackson Chourio, one of baseball's brightest young stars, while surrounding him with established contributors like Christian Yelich and William Contreras and a deep collection of players including Brice Turang, Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell and others.

Milwaukee's postseason position-player group contains different handedness, defensive versatility, speed and enough legitimate offensive options that manager Pat Murphy isn't forced to hope one or two hitters solve everything.

For too many years, Pittsburgh has entered seasons with several lineup spots that required everything to go right. A young player needed an immediate breakout. A reclamation project needed to rediscover his swing. A glove-first player needed to become playable offensively. Someone coming off a disappointing year needed to bounce back.

One gamble is reasonable. Four or five of them become a roster-building problem. That is especially important now because Pittsburgh finally has the kind of pitching staff capable of covering for an offense that is merely good, rather than dominant.

Pirates' offseason challenge is to eliminate lineup's obvious weak spots

The Pirates have to approach this offseason with depth in mind instead of searching for one addition they can advertise as the solution.

Brandon Lowe's free agency is part of that equation. If the Pirates can't retain one of their most productive hitters, they have to replace that production rather than simply shifting everyone else up a spot in the lineup.

They need more certainty around the catching situation. They need additional offensive help in the outfield. They desperately need a better plan against left-handed pitching after finishing near the bottom of virtually every meaningful offensive category against southpaws this season. And they need young players such as Konnor Griffin and Rafael Flores Jr. to become additions to a functional lineup rather than saviors responsible for fixing it.

The Brewers haven't removed uncertainty from roster building. Nobody can. What they have done is accumulate enough quality options that one injury, slump or failed projection doesn't collapse the entire offense. Pittsburgh is starting from the opposite direction.

The Pirates have already done the difficult part of developing high-end starting pitching. Skenes is the centerpiece, but Jones, Chandler and Ashcraft give them something much more valuable than a single ace: the possibility of controlling an excellent rotation for years.

But those years are also finite. Eventually, those pitchers become more expensive, arbitration salaries rise, and free agency becomes something Pittsburgh has to confront. The advantage is greatest right now, while so much of that rotation remains young and affordable.

Milwaukee's postseason run should therefore be less of a source of NL Central envy than an instructional video. The Brewers have competence throughout the lineup, depth behind the starters, multiple ways to score, fewer automatic outs and enough talent that an excellent pitching staff doesn't have to be perfect every night.

The Pirates already have a rotation capable of becoming the foundation of a contender. This winter is about finally building the rest of one.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow