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The Pittsburgh Pirates are out of the running for a playoff spot this season, having been eliminated back on Roberto Clemente day. It's been a tough year for the major league squad, which extended its postseason drought to one decade.
However, not all is lost on an organizational level. The Pirates' Triple-A affiliate, the Indianapolis Indians, have been one of the best teams in the International League all year, and they wrapped up play last weekend with the best record in the league.
The team has had the pleasure of employing players like Nick Yorke and Bubba Chandler throughout the year, and numerous top prospects (like Billy Cook and Thomas Harrington) are still plying their trade in Triple-A.
That all sounds like it has the makings for an exciting playoff venutre, right? Well, because of a super fun, totally reasonable quirk in MiLB's standings rules, the best team in their division in the International League will not be playing postseason baseball this year.
The Pirates Triple -A team in Indianapolis had the best record in their division & it didn’t matter as far as playoffs because the league just takes the best team from the first half of the league & they play the best second half team in the playoffs. Division title = no playoffs pic.twitter.com/9GFQqdLBDI
— John Dreker (@JohnDreker) September 22, 2025
Pirates' Triple-A affiliate misses playoffs despite best record in International League West
The way the regular season works in Triple-A is a lot different from the major leagues. Per MiLB.com: "Each Triple-A season will be split into two halves, with the first half ending on June 22 and the second half commencing June 24. The regular season will conclude on Sunday, Sept. 21. Following an off day on Monday, Sept, 22, the first-half winners will serve as the hosts [to the second-half winners] in a best-of-three LCS."
For our purposes, what that means is that to make the playoffs in Triple-A, you have to come out on top in your division in either the first half or the second half. Overall record (for some reason) does not matter.
Indianapolis finished the first half in fifth place (4.5 games behind Jacksonville) and the second half in third place (4.0 games behind Scranton/Wilkes-Barre). Thus, they miss out on the playoffs.
Do you want to get even more frustrated over these inane rules? The International League hosts 20 teams, compared to just 10 in the Pacific Coast League (the other Triple-A league). Indianapolis' 87-62 record would have been the best in the PCL, regardless of division.
Unfortunately, Indianapolis' bad fortune ends the minor league season for the Pirates' organization, though two affiliates did at least reach the playoffs.
Double-A Altoona lost in a heartbreaking Game 3 in the Divisional Round, High-A Greensboro was swept in the Divisional Round, and Low-A Bradenton finished the season with a 60-69 record.