The Pittsburgh Pirates looked like a team on the rise when the first half ended. At 50-47, they were in position for their first playoff berth since 2015, and the club had enough momentum to make the stretch run feel real.
Then August arrived, and everything started to slip. The Pirates fell below .500 and found themselves as many as 6.5 games out in the NL Wild Card race.
That kind of collapse is hard to ignore, especially when the problems are hitting from every direction. Paul Skenes is broken.
The offense that Ben Cherington spent the offseason trying to rebuild has vanished. The bullpen, which finally got help to stop the late-inning bleeding, has gotten the support at the exact wrong time.
Still, Josh Harrison doesn’t see this as some kind of surprise disaster. He sees a team going through the kind of growing pains that come with learning how to win.
“At some point, it's like you need all 3 phases to work together, and unfortunately you just haven't had that this year.”
“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 knows that road better than most. He came up with those 2011 and 2012 Pirates teams that finished 72-90 and 79-83, then watched the turnaround take hold in 2013, when Pittsburgh won 94 games and opened a run of three straight playoff appearances.
That’s the lens he’s using now: not denial, but perspective. The Pirates are still a young team, and there were plenty of holes on the 2025 roster that never got filled over the offseason. The bullpen additions at the trade deadline should help, and Cherington will have another chance this winter to keep patching the rest of the roster.
In the short term, though, the lessons are coming in the middle of the mess. The lineup, rotation and bullpen haven’t been able to sync up, and too many winnable games have slipped away because of it. When a team can’t hold it together on the days when things are going well, the bad stretches tend to feel even worse when they arrive.
Braxton Ashcraft offered a good example of what the Pirates hope to build from here. He had been sizzling early, then hit a rough patch, carrying a 6.67 ERA since July 1 into his August 13 start against the Miami Marlins. He answered with an 85-pitch complete-game gem.
“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 after the outing.
For a fan base that has waited a long time for real winning baseball, being told to stay patient is a tough sell. But this is the sort of pain that often comes with a rebuild, and Harrison’s point is clear: if the Pirates actually absorb these lessons, they could come out better for it in 2027 and beyond.
In Other News...
Pirates Get Two Encouraging Injury Signs As Endy Faces A Bigger Concern
The Pirates got a pair of encouraging injury updates as the calendar starts to turn, with Ben Cherington saying Konnor Griffin and Ryan OHearn are moving in the right direction. Griffin, dealing with a left ring finger injury, is making progress in rehab and is expected back in early September, while OHearn is working back from a left quad strain and could return around mid-September. For a club that has had to manage depth carefully, even modest good news on the injury front matters.
Endy Rodrguez remains the bigger concern in the group, and Cheringtons update left plenty of uncertainty around his left hip issue. A possible surgery is on the table, and with it comes the real possibility of a season-altering absence for a player the Pirates have been trying to keep in the mix. In a stretch when healthy bodies can change the shape of a roster quickly, Rodrguez is the name that hangs over the rest of the injury report. [Read more 🡒]
Khristian Curtis Just Put Real Pressure On The Pirates Rotation
Khristian Curtis has given the Pirates something they can never have enough of in late summer: a young arm forcing its way into the conversation. Through his first two major league appearances, the right-hander has spun eight scoreless innings while allowing only two hits, a quick start that has turned a low-key call-up into a legitimate rotation storyline as the calendar moves toward September.
Don Kelly already identified Curtis as a candidate for a roster spot when the expanded rosters arrive next month, and the path is clearer with Mitch Keller out for the season. That leaves Pittsburgh looking for innings wherever it can find them, and Curtis is suddenly in position to do more than just fill space. If he keeps this going, the Pirates may have no choice but to keep giving him a real chance to start. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Are Finally Closing In On A Konnor Griffin Return
Konnor Griffin is finally moving toward a return, and the Pirates have a clearer sense of when they might have him back in the lineup. General manager Ben Cherington said Griffin is progressing well in his rehab from a left ring sagittal band injury, with the outfielder having been sidelined since early July. After a stretch on the shelf, Griffin has recently started swinging again now that his splint has been removed.
The calendar still matters here, because Griffin cannot be activated from the 60-day injured list until September 4. Even so, the expectation is that he could be back in major league games in early September, giving Pittsburgh a late-season boost if his recovery continues on schedule. [Read more 🡒]