4-26-25 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on X
All season long, it’s been very hard to focus on much about this Pirates team beyond what they’re missing. How little they did to support what most of us felt was a very strong pitching staff, it’s all any of us can discuss, see, or deal with.
I’m not here to tell you it’s irrelevant, or life wouldn’t be easier, or better if they did what we wanted.
But…
I started thinking as I was watching the Pirates and Paul Skenes beat the Yankees and Yoshinobu Yamamoto last night in Los Angeles, man, even with two other decent bats, this lineup isn’t going to stack up.
Again, I’m not saying they shouldn’t get better, or bring in something. That’s not what this piece is, I’m just saying, if they pitch like this, and the hitters they do have hit like this, they’re closer than we as a fan base seem to think.
It may not happen this year regardless. To be in a position to bring in something that helps this year, they need to be within striking distance and frankly, that’s going to take weeks and months of playing games that look a lot like the 3-0 victory they put together last night.
It’s a hard way to win.
The more they add to the mix, either through returning guys from the IL, or kids becoming ballplayers instead of projects, the how really doesn’t matter, the better they get as it comes to chances to win games just like this, and survive games where the pitching is mere human.
Paul pitches once every 5 days, so it’s not a plan to just win a low scoring battle every time he pitches, but the pitching staff is solid, and will get more solid if the main principals stay and get healthy respectively.
The hitting, well, they’ve kinda gotten to the point where they have a decent 1-5 they can field.
Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds, Joey Bart, Andrew McCutchen and Enmanuel Valdez.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa is hitting 9th, but he clearly has fit into this group of players contributing almost nightly.
That’s 6.
After that, you have your semi consistent like Ke’Bryan Hayes, and Adam Frazier.
Look, it’s not ever going to look like it stacks up with the Dodgers head to head. Hell, it probably doesn’t stack up against the Mets, Braves, Phillies, Cubs, Brewers, Giants, Padres, or Diamondbacks either.
Paul and this pitching staff, coupled with a competent offensive attack might just be enough most nights.
The point is, maybe it’s not as bleak as we’ve been crowing about all offseason and season.
I still think a better GM has them in a better spot. And a better coach does more with what they’ve been given. A better owner makes more money, and spends more too.
All that being true and accepted, this team entered this season as a team that would do well if they snuck in to a wild card, and I mean even if they added the “big bat” we all said they need. Be honest with yourself, that one big bat would make it easier, not inevitable.
It’s not inevitable that this plan can’t work either, even if it’s ultimately handed to new bosses next year. This pitching can still be enough to create opportunity, and this offense just needs to be enough to make it hold up.
It ain’t a championship roster, but it might be one that overachieves based on one side of the team being hard to beat.
The very last thing I’m telling you here is to be patient. You’ve all heard that enough and you all feel how you feel.
Look, I don’t personally think they have enough. But if they do, this is the path, and last night’s game needs to play out an awful lot in 2025.
I’ll finish with this, you don’t put together a staff like this and lose long stretches of games typically. You don’t wait for perfect when you know you’ll never see it, and finally, while they’re lacking offensive fire power to hang with like 3/4 of the National League, that’s about how much of the National League that can’t hang with their pitching.
This season isn’t over, and this team isn’t the team they’ll have as it plays out. Last night reminded me, Paul Skenes, and this staff, if there is an opportunity here, it’ that they’re able to present the great equalizer into most matchups, pitching.
Steel City Pirates 