The Pirates got the kind of season that makes October feel a little cruel from a distance. Pittsburgh finished 82-80, a solid 11-game jump from last year’s 71-91 mess and the franchise’s first winning record since 2018, but the late push never quite erased the damage done when injuries hit the roster in the middle of the year. A 15-9 finish in September wasn’t enough to drag them into the postseason.
And no one embodied that frustrating mix of progress and missed chance more than Oneil Cruz. The center fielder missed 61 games with a fractured hand, yet still finished ninth among all MLB center fielders in WAR with 3.3, a number that jumps off the page considering he appeared in only 97 games. While he was on the injured list, Pittsburgh went 27-32.
Cruz’s season still came with plenty to build on. He hit .280 with 20 home runs, 67 RBI, 30 stolen bases and an .854 OPS, and his work against left-handed pitching was a real step forward at .326 with an .847 OPS. For a player who had long been viewed as a frustrating talent, that’s a meaningful leap.
The biggest question with Cruz now is whether his bat can stay at this level while the glove catches up. He spent the offseason working with former Platinum Glove winner Kevin Kiermaier on center-field defense, and Kiermaier came away impressed. Even so, Cruz finished with -7 defensive runs saved over 756 1/3 innings in the field.
That defensive issue is the one thing keeping him from being the complete force Pittsburgh wants him to become. But the offensive ceiling is obvious now. A healthy Cruz looks capable of piling up 30-30 seasons, and that kind of production changes the conversation for a team trying to turn a step forward into a real contender.
The catch is that Cruz can’t carry this alone. Pittsburgh is heading into a critical offseason, one that could determine whether the rebuild keeps climbing or stalls out. Brandon Lowe is a free agent, and his teammates have made it clear they want the Pirates to bring him back, though there’s no certainty the front office will spend what it takes.
That bigger spending question hangs over everything. Last winter, Bob Nutting approved a level of spending that had rarely been seen in Pittsburgh.
The Pirates were still among the league’s lower-payroll teams, but they were no longer a punch line. Whether that approach continues is the real issue, especially with the CBA set to expire on December 1 and with some of the league’s lower-payroll clubs having already bumped up spending last offseason.
Pittsburgh needs more than Lowe anyway. The rotation needs help, the lineup could use a big right-handed bat, the bench needs upgrading, and there’s room for another reliever or two. It all adds up quickly.
Cruz staying healthy would have changed the 2026 race, and it will matter again in 2027. But if the Pirates settle for hoping health and internal growth are enough, they risk staying stuck. If they keep investing, Cruz has the chance to be the centerpiece that pushes them toward the league’s upper tier.
In Other News...
Bryan Reynolds Had One 2026 Problem Pirates Fans Will Hate
Bryan Reynolds spent the 2026 season doing just about everything the Pirates could ask of him, showing up for all 162 games and finishing with a .261/.365/.424 line while leading the majors in doubles. Even so, the numbers only tell part of the story for a hitter whose power production was shaped by the environment around him as much as by his own swing.
According to Ballpark Pal, Reynolds was the unluckiest home run hitter in baseball in 2026, with an estimated 8.2 homers taken away by stadium and weather effects. Playing half his games at PNC Park, where the dimensions can be especially unfriendly to right-handed batters, helped explain why some of those well-struck balls never became souvenirs, and it leaves Pirates fans wondering what his totals might have looked like in a more forgiving setting. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Just Gave Pirates Fans A Painful Bullpen Reminder
The Braves found a way to turn a bullpen game into a postseason blueprint in Game 2 of the National League Division Series, leaning on Ray Kerr and Didier Fuentes for more than six innings in a win over the Dodgers. It was the kind of clean, flexible pitching plan that can look modern and sharp when it works, especially when a team is trying to steady a series without a traditional starter taking the ball.
For Pirates fans, it carried an uncomfortable reminder of those late-season bullpen games in Pittsburgh, only theirs came out of necessity rather than design. Injuries and a shortage of healthy starters forced the Pirates into that kind of scramble, so watching Atlanta use the same approach to even a division series only sharpened the contrast between a planned postseason tactic and a roster reality the Pirates spent months trying to manage. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Rotation Hype Comes Down To One Huge 2027 Question
The Pirates can already picture a rotation built around Paul Skenes in 2027, with Braxton Ashcraft, Mitch Keller and a few others giving the club reason to believe the staff could be a strength again. There is real optimism in the organization after a 2026 season that brought mixed results but also encouraging stretches, including Ashcrafts All-Star nod and Jones coming back from injury to help late in the year.
What makes the conversation interesting is that so much of the planning still hinges on one big unknown: how the group settles in once everyone is healthy and the roles sort themselves out. Pittsburgh has the makings of a deep staff, but the difference between a promising rotation on paper and one that carries the club is often a matter of timing, health and whether the right arms line up when the season matters most. [Read more 🡒]