The Pittsburgh Pirates took a real step forward in 2026, but the gap between “better” and “October baseball” still showed up in one obvious place: the bullpen.
Pittsburgh finished 82-80, its first winning season since 2018 and only the fifth in the last 34 years. That was an 11-win jump from 2025, and it pushed the club closer to contention than it has been in a while. Still, if the Pirates want to turn that progress into a playoff berth in 2027, they’re going to have to fix the area that can make or break a season.
This postseason has made the formula plain, especially in the Championship Series. Managers have not been waiting around for starters to “work through it.”
They’ve gone to the bullpen early and often, asking relievers to cover major stretches of games. In the American League, that’s been true for the Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays.
In the National League, the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers have done the same.
That approach is about survival. Teams can’t afford to let a starter unravel while hoping he finds it. If the first two or three innings go sideways, the damage can pile up fast, and contenders are playing too tight a game for that kind of risk.
Milwaukee and Los Angeles showed that in Game 2 at American Family Field on Oct. 12.
Logan Henderson worked four innings for Milwaukee, while Yoshinobu Yamamoto didn’t make it out of the third for Los Angeles. Game 1 had a similar feel, with Tarik Skubal going five innings and NL Cy Young Award hopeful Jacob Misiorowski lasting just 4.1 innings.
The Brewers’ bullpen has been especially sharp in the series, giving up only two earned runs across 13.2 innings for a 1.32 ERA. More broadly, all four teams left in the field brought strong relief groups into October, with bullpens ranking in the top 10 in ERA - aside from Tampa Bay - WHIP and BAA.
That’s the standard Pittsburgh has to chase.
The Pirates spent much of the season fighting through bullpen trouble, including 19 blown saves, the ninth-most in baseball by the Aug. 3 trade deadline. For a team with a small margin for error, that kind of instability is a serious problem.
There is reason for optimism, though. After the deadline, Pittsburgh’s bullpen was one of the stronger parts of the roster, and the club will bring in two important additions for next season.
Lake Bachar, acquired from the Miami Marlins, gave the Pirates quality work as a middle reliever and also filled in as a spot starter for much of his time with the team. Luke Weaver, brought in from the New York Mets, is expected to handle the setup role and the eighth inning.
The Pirates also have several returnees who mattered in 2026. Left-hander Mason Montgomery caught fire over the final two months and allowed runs in just one appearance while developing into the team’s shutdown closer.
Yohan Ramírez was effective in whatever role the Pirates asked of him, and even with some inconsistency, the right-hander overwhelmed hitters. Carmen Mlodzinski still doesn’t have a fixed role, but his track record in relief suggests he can do plenty of the same damage if called on in 2027.
Even with those pieces in place, Pittsburgh still needs more leverage arms, including both a left-handed and right-handed option. Those pieces should be available either in free agency or through a trade.
The Pirates also have some depth arms they can use in bulk if needed: right-handers Khristian Curtis, Wilber Dotel and Antwone Kelly, along with left-hander Hunter Barco. But those pitchers are also likely to want starting opportunities down the road.
So the pressure is on Ben Cherington and the front office to get this right. Pittsburgh already has a young, promising rotation and a lineup that looks solid when the key bats are healthy. A stronger bullpen would give that group the support it needs to reach the postseason and hold up once it gets there.
If the Pirates don’t add to the relief mix, they risk ending up right back where they were earlier this season - leaning on arms that wear down, with no dependable replacements when the slump hits.
In Other News...
Pirates Face A Costly David Bednar Question This Offseason
David Bednars path out of Pittsburgh and into free agency has become one of the more interesting offseason subplots for a club that still needs to sharpen its roster in multiple places. The Pirates moved on from him after a rough start to the 2026 season, only to watch him settle in and finish strong, which makes the trade look a little more complicated now than it did in the moment. The prospects Pittsburgh got back are part of the equation too, but the bigger question is what the Pirates are willing to spend if they want to keep a proven late-inning arm in the mix.
Bednar remains a high-end bullpen option, the kind of reliever any contender would be happy to plug into the back end, but Pittsburgh has to weigh that against a broader list of needs. The bullpen can always use help, yet the front office also has other roster areas demanding attention, and thats where the real tension sits for this winter. The Pirates may like the idea of a reunion, but whether they make a serious push could say more about their offseason priorities than about Bednar himself. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates May Be Running Out Of Time On Their Top Offseason Need
The Pirates have spent the early offseason treating second base as their clearest priority, and Brandon Lowe has emerged as the player most tied to that need. Pittsburgh has been weighing ways to address the spot while the free-agent market still has some depth, but the broader backdrop is making the decision harder. The club would prefer to sort through its options with some patience, especially with other second basemen available if the top target proves too expensive or too difficult to land.
The problem is the calendar may not offer much of that patience. A potential MLB lockout could quickly squeeze the Pirates leverage and limit what they can do if negotiations stall, turning what looked like a measured pursuit into a more urgent one. If the market tightens and Lowe remains available, Pittsburgh may have to decide sooner than planned whether to push hard for him or risk watching its top offseason need linger deeper into the winter. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Pitching Prospect Running Out Of Time To Show Real Progress
The Pirates have eight prospects in the Arizona Fall League, and right-hander Zander Mueth is among the names worth watching as the organization keeps looking for signs of progress from a 2023 draft pick whose last two seasons have been slowed by injuries and uneven results. At 21, Mueth has been trying to get his career back on track after spending stretches battling command issues and inflated earned run averages in both minor league action and now the AFL.
What makes his fall performance especially important is that the Pirates are still evaluating whether the adjustments he has made can lead to steadier outings and a clearer developmental path. Mueth has worked to change his mechanics as part of that effort, and for a pitcher with his background, the next step is less about raw talent than showing real, repeatable improvement before time starts to feel shorter. [Read more 🡒]