One day after the MLB trade deadline in July, the Pittsburgh Pirates were 55-52, two games out of the wild card race, six games out of first place in the National League Central, and second in the division.
Optimism was running high as trade deadline acquisitions Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Bryan De La Cruz, and Jalen Beeks joined a roster that included pitching phenom Paul Skenes, all-star Bryan Reynolds, former all-stars Mitch Keller and David Bednar, and up-and-coming stars like O’Neil Cruz and Jared Jones. Though a tough stretch of opponents loomed ahead, many fans (including myself) believed this was the best chance the Buccos had at October baseball since they made the playoffs three consecutive seasons in 2013, 2014, and 2015.
Those hopes and aspirations faded remarkably fast immediately following the deadline. The Pirates lost an error-filled final game of their series against Houston, blew leads in two games against Arizona, and proceeded to have a ten game losing streak that knocked the Pirates out of postseason contention.
There was nothing abnormal with the Pirates’ performance during that stretch. They were scoring fewer runs than they had all season, but not by too much. It wasn’t like they were lighting it up offensively prior to the losing streak. The starting pitching wasn’t terrible either. The bullpen was really bad, but it has been one of the worst in the league all season.
The common denominator throughout that stretch, and really all season, has been the inability to close out games. In those ten losses, five of them were by one run, and during three of them Pittsburgh had the lead going into the ninth inning.
It’s easy to cast most of the blame for this collapse on David Bednar, Colin Holderman and the much-maligned bullpen. They deserve a large portion of it, but shouldn’t part of it fall on those who oversaw the collapse as the losses piled up?
This season marks year five of the Ben Cherington, Travis Williams, and Derek Shelton era. After being given the green light to completely start over following the 2019 season, the first three years were about trading away veterans for minor league prospects and losing 100 games. In 2023, the team began showing signs of life, starting 20-8 before fading and ending up 76-86.
Going into 2024, the hope was that an improving roster combined with the arrival of Paul Skenes and Jared Jones would put the Pirates on the fringes of wild card contention during the last couple weeks of the season.
While a late-season surge is not ruled out, the Pirates will not only fail to reach .500 by season’s end, but they won’t be close to the wild card hunt. Instead of each game having massive consequence and fans holding their collective breaths when a runner reaches scoring position, the storylines this September will be Andrew McCutchen’s milestones reached in a Pirates uniform and whether or not the team will shut down Paul Skenes.
As the offseason nears, it’s fair to wonder if Derek Shelton and Ben Cherington will be on the hot seat. After five seasons and not even sniffing postseason baseball, when is it fair to question if they’re capable of getting Pittsburgh to the playoffs and even further?
