The Pirates can stop looking at the standings and start looking at the offseason, because Friday night wiped away the last bit of suspense. San Diego’s win over Miami officially knocked Pittsburgh out of postseason contention, even though the Pirates still handled the Royals 8-5 and got back to .500 at 77-77.
That puts the spotlight on what comes next, and the first big question is Brandon Lowe.
Lowe has given Pittsburgh exactly what it needed when the club brought him in. He added another homer Friday and now sits at .260 with an .819 OPS, 32 home runs and 91 RBI in 143 games.
He leads the Pirates in both homers and RBI, and no other Pittsburgh hitter has even reached 20 home runs. For a team that spent years hunting for real power, that kind of production changed the look of the lineup.
Now the contract is up, and Lowe hasn’t shut the door on staying.
He told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Colin Beazley that he told his agent not to bring extension offers during the season because he didn’t want negotiations getting in the way of baseball. But when the topic turned to free agency and a possible return to Pittsburgh, Lowe didn’t dance around it.
"[If] they want to talk, I'm all ears."
That’s the part the Pirates have to hear loud and clear. This isn’t about figuring out whether Lowe fits.
He already does. It’s about what the decision says about the franchise’s bigger plan for 2027.
Pittsburgh has spent much of this season talking about progress. The young core is there, with Paul Skenes, Konnor Griffin, Bubba Chandler, Oneil Cruz and others in the mix.
The offense has taken steps forward. At times, the Pirates were right there in the Wild Card race.
But progress can’t just become a reason to wait around forever. If 2027 is supposed to be the year this group truly moves forward, the Pirates can’t open the offseason by letting their top power bat walk and assuming someone else inside the organization will make up 30-plus home runs.
Maybe the market gets too expensive. Maybe another team offers more years or more money than Pittsburgh can justify.
That happens. But this has to be a real push, because the Pirates finally found the kind of proven hitter they’ve been chasing for years, and he actually delivered in Pittsburgh.
Lowe has done his part. He’s performed, he’s fit, and he’s left the door open. Now the Pirates have to decide how serious they are about the future they keep talking about.
In Other News...
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The bigger point, though, was the one he kept steering toward: progress only matters if it carries into 2027. Cherington stressed accountability and the need for the Pirates to keep improving, which leaves the franchise facing the same familiar test this winter and beyond - turning encouraging steps into a season that lasts deep enough to matter. [Read more 🡒]
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Pirates Young Core Now Carries The Weight Of 2027
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Spencer Horwitz offered a similar snapshot of both promise and fragility. He came out of the gate strong, then saw his season wobble after a hamstring injury, another reminder that the Pirates next phase will depend not just on talent, but on getting that talent onto the field long enough to matter. With the playoff chase over, the rest of the year becomes less about the present tense and more about finishing strong, banking some momentum, and carrying a more defined identity into 2027. [Read more 🡒]