Pirates 2025 Prediction Remains Grim
The Pittsburgh Pirates already hold the longest drought in the National League for consecutive years without a playoff appearance at nine, only trailing the Los Angeles Angels.
Will the Pirates be able to snap that streak next season?
Bleacher Report has its doubts about Pittsburgh avoiding the streak reaching 10. They projected the year every team that missed the playoffs would make it again and had Pittsburgh earning a postseason berth in 2026.
"With the dynamic young trio of Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller and Jared Jones set to anchor the starting rotation for the foreseeable future, the Pirates have a nice head start toward building a contending team," Bleacher Report writes. "They need more than Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz offensively, and given their spending limitations, it will fall to former top prospects such as Nick Gonzales, Henry Davis, Endy Rodriguez and others to at least partially solve that problem. They had a winning record into August (56-55 on Aug. 4), and the arrow is pointing up in Pittsburgh heading into 2025."
The Pirates' pitching staff gives the most reason for optimism. Paul Skenes had a historic rookie season, going 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA and struck out 170 batters over 133 innings pitched. Had he began the season in the big leagues, Skenes winning the National League Cy Young award likely would have been within reach.
Jones flashed upside in his rookie season, though a strained lat cost him about two months and he struggled to reclaim his form upon returning. Mitch Keller is the veteran of the staff and got off to another strong start to the season before struggling in the second half.
The Pirates' ability to improve next season more than likely begins with their offense. If they can't get out of the bottom 10 in nearly every major stat at the plate, it's more than likely they'll be watching playoff baseball from the couch again next October.
The impetus should be there for Pittsburgh to add the necessary pieces to improve at the plate as well. If the Pirates go another year without making the playoffs, it's not far-fetched to believe 2025 could be the last season for manager Derek Shelton and general manager Ben Cherington after they've gone 294-414 through their first five seasons.
