November 8, 2026
November 8, 2026
Pittsburgh Pirates 2025 Season: Skenes Dominates as the Offense Falters
The Pirates’ 2025 season delivered one of the most dominant pitching campaigns in franchise history and one of its most frustrating offenses. Paul Skenes turned every fifth day into an event at PNC Park. Around him, a lineup that could not score dragged the club to a 71-91 record and a fifth-place finish in the National League Central. The result was a year of brilliance and disappointment living side by side.
Pittsburgh entered spring believing its young rotation could carry it back into contention. Skenes was coming off a Rookie of the Year campaign, and Mitch Keller gave the staff a proven veteran behind him. Prospects such as Bubba Chandler loomed in Triple-A as reinforcements.
The front office under general manager Ben Cherington kept its winter moves modest. Andrew McCutchen returned on a one-year deal in December, extending his second act with the franchise that drafted him. Adam Frazier came back on a one-year contract, and veteran outfielder Tommy Pham joined the lineup. Relievers Caleb Ferguson and Tim Mayza added depth to a bullpen anchored by closer David Bednar.
The questions were obvious. Could an offense that lacked power and on-base skills give that pitching enough support? The opening weeks answered loudly, and not in the club’s favor.
The first six weeks exposed every fear about the roster. Pittsburgh dropped its opener 5-4 in Miami, and the losses piled up from there. A seven-game losing streak in early May sank the club to 12-26. The offense rarely mustered more than a few runs, and close games slipped away night after night.
On May 8, the Pirates fired Derek Shelton after more than five seasons in charge. The move was an admission that the season was unraveling before it had truly begun. Shelton departed with the club buried at the bottom of the division.
Bench coach Don Kelly was promoted the same day. A Pittsburgh-area native who grew up cheering for the franchise, Kelly brought steadiness to a clubhouse that badly needed it. He could not fix the lineup overnight, but he restored a level of competitiveness that had vanished.
Under Kelly, the Pirates went 59-65, a dramatic improvement on the pace that cost his predecessor his job. A six-game winning streak from late June into early July showed what the team could look like when the bats woke up. The club also played 32-33 after the All-Star break. That steadier work earned Kelly a contract extension at the end of September, and the club’s decision to keep him signaled faith in his leadership.
Skenes did not just pitch well in his sophomore season. He bent the league to his will. Across 32 starts, he posted a 1.97 ERA over 187 2/3 innings, struck out 216 batters and carried a 0.95 WHIP. No qualified starter in the majors finished with a lower ERA.
His record told a different story. Skenes finished 10-10, a mark that reflected the meager run support behind him rather than any flaw in his work. He started the All-Star Game for the National League for a second straight year, becoming the first pitcher to do so in each of his first two seasons. His 216 strikeouts also set a franchise record for a right-hander.
The reward arrived in November. Skenes captured the National League Cy Young Award with all 30 first-place votes, a unanimous decision that placed him alongside Vern Law and Doug Drabek as the franchise’s only winners. He also joined Fernando Valenzuela and Dwight Gooden as the only pitchers to win Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young in their first two seasons. MLB’s coverage of the finalists captured just how historic the campaign had been.
Skenes was the headliner, but the entire staff kept Pittsburgh afloat. The Pirates allowed just 645 runs, the fifth-fewest in the majors. They also led baseball with 19 shutouts, a remarkable total for a losing team.
Keller logged 176 1/3 innings and absorbed a 6-15 record that, like his teammate’s, owed much to a silent offense. Dennis Santana emerged as one of the league’s most dependable relievers, posting a 2.18 ERA across 70 appearances and recording 16 saves. Bednar recovered from a rocky start to post a 2.37 ERA before his departure. The pitching kept the club close in game after game. It simply could not win them alone.
The lineup defined the season as much as Skenes did, and for all the wrong reasons. Pittsburgh scored only 583 runs, the fewest in Major League Baseball. The team hit .231 with a .350 slugging percentage and managed only 117 home runs.
Oneil Cruz supplied the loudest flashes. He hit 20 home runs and stole 38 bases, combining rare power and speed in center field. Yet his .200 batting average underscored the swing-and-miss issues that plagued the entire roster.
Bryan Reynolds remained the steadiest bat, playing 154 games and leading the club with 38 doubles and 73 RBIs. McCutchen added 13 home runs in 135 games as a respected clubhouse voice. Pham chipped in 10 homers. None of it was enough to change the fundamental math of a team that could not string hits together.
By late July, the Pirates had no path to the postseason, and Cherington moved to restock the farm system. The flurry of deadline deals reshaped the roster in a matter of days.
The most emotional move sent Gold Glove third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes to the Cincinnati Reds on July 30. Pittsburgh received prospect Sammy Stafura and reliever Taylor Rogers, then flipped Rogers to the Chicago Cubs a day later. Bednar went to the New York Yankees for a package of prospects, closing his tenure as one of the franchise’s most popular players.
Ferguson was dealt to the Seattle Mariners, while Bailey Falter and Frazier both landed with the Kansas City Royals. Keller, Santana and Pham stayed put. The sell-off made the remaining two months a proving ground for young talent rather than a pennant chase.
The final stretch offered glimpses of the next era. Chandler arrived in late August and collected his first big-league win on August 27, flashing the velocity that made him one of the organization’s top pitching prospects. He finished 4-1 with a 4.02 ERA across seven appearances.
PNC Park remained a genuine advantage. The Pirates went 44-37 at home, a winning mark that contrasted sharply with a dismal 27-54 road record. That split illustrated how thin the margin was for a team built on pitching and starved for offense.
Pittsburgh closed at 71-91, 26 games behind the division-champion Milwaukee Brewers. The finish extended the club’s postseason drought to 10 consecutive seasons. The full statistical record is preserved at Baseball Reference, where the gap between run prevention and run production stands out on every page.
The summer also carried grief. Franchise great Dave Parker, the 1978 National League MVP and a 1979 World Series champion, died on June 28. His passing came just weeks before his scheduled induction into the Hall of Fame, and the city mourned one of its most beloved stars.
The Pirates’ 2025 season will be remembered first for Skenes. He delivered a year that belongs among the finest pitching seasons in franchise history, and he did it for a team that rarely gave him a lead. His unanimous Cy Young gave fans a reason to fill PNC Park every time he took the mound.
The season also clarified the work ahead. The pitching foundation was real, the bullpen produced bright spots, and Kelly earned the trust of the front office. The offense, however, remained the anchor holding the franchise in place. That contrast defined the Pirates’ 2025 season, leaving a fan base with a generational ace and an urgent demand for the bats to match him.
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