The Pittsburgh Pirates are probably goners with respect to reaching their first MLB postseason since 2015. They entered Thursday action 5.5 games back of Arizona for the final wild-card spot and had just a 1.5% chance of advancing, according to Fangraphs.
The club might yet be able to save its general manager’s job, though. If manager Don Kelly and Co. can slip over the .500 mark to complete a winning season for the first time since 2018, then his boss, Ben Cherington, can still credibly point to progress toward another step in 2027 after six consecutive losing campaigns to start his tenure since his late 2019 hiring.
Results have improved lately. With a 5-2 win against the San Francisco Giants on Sept. 3, the Pirates have won five of their past
series to break a skid of seven consecutive series losses coming out of the All-Star break.
They’re also getting healthier at some key spots. Power-hitting centerfielder Oneil Cruz returned from an extended injured list stint Aug. 18 and has hit well since returning with a .306 average, two homers and 10 RBIs in 13 games entering Thursday.
Rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin is back in Pittsburgh, too. He’s been out since July 5 with a finger injury but is expected to be in the lineup Friday night against the Los Angeles Angels after a rehab stint in the minors.
"It's been driving me nuts watching the games on my phone," said Griffin, the organization’s former top prospect who signed a lucrative extension with the club early in the year. "It'll be fun to finally be back in there competing."
Ryan O’Hearn could soon join them. He’s been in Pittsburgh as well this week, so a rehab assignment is the natural next step back from a quad injury that’s had him out since July 31. He’s been a key piece of Pittsburgh’s offensive surge this season with 17 home runs and 69 RBIs.
The Pirates sit three games back of .500, so a winning season is still eminently achievable with relatively good ball between now and the Sept. 27 season finale against Detroit.
The question for owner Bob Nutting is whether that should be enough for Cherington to hold on for an eighth season.
The highwater mark for his tenure so far was 76 wins in both 2023 and 2024. His teams have finished either four or fifth in the NL Central in each of his six full seasons in Pittsburgh so far, and in each of his last eight full seasons overall. He oversaw two last-place teams with the Boston Red Sox following a 2013 World Series victory.
Ownership also did not soft pedal expectations in the offseason.
“Our goal is to make the playoffs. Period. Full stop,” president Travis Williams said in January. “That is the expectation of this organization."
Not meeting that goal after such a long track record of losing should come with consequences in most circumstances. That said, the circumstances facing the sport as a whole are exceptional.
Many observers expect a lock out of the players for some portion of 2027. Owners are known to desire a salary cap system, and that’s especially true in a market like Pittsburgh. The Pirates are often facing teams with double and triple their payroll, so fans and ownership alike want a more equal playing field from a revenue perspective.
Changing the direction of baseball operations while facing those headwinds and possible wholesale changes to the economic system could be more disruption than this franchise needs, if it can show some upward trajectory.
That “if” is why the month ahead remains important, even if most Pittsburgh eyes will soon be diverted to the Steelers’ day-to-day across the proverbial parking lot at Acrisure Stadium.
What fans will most want to see is the continued growth of starter Braxton Ashcraft and a return to form from rotation mate Paul Skenes.
The former hit a rough path in the same portion of the schedule that tripped up the team as a whole in July. In August, however, he got back on the track that earned him an All-Star nod with a 2.13 ERA. The Pirates won five of his six starts, so a strong finish would make a statement that he can be every bit the building block that Skenes has been seen as.
Speaking of him, the NL’s reigning Cy Young, is off to an inauspicious start to September after allowing five runs in 4.2 innings against the Giants this past Tuesday. His ERA has ballooned from 3.10 at the end of June to 3.97 through the end of August.
If there is a 2027 for the sport, he’ll have to be much better for the Pirates, so a strong finish would be the encouraging sign Nutting may need to give Cherington one more chance to return this franchise to the sport’s biggest stage.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Pirates have gotten hot, and just might save GM Ben Cherington's job
