Young core has Pirates believing they're ready for next step

DETROIT -- Mason Montgomery delivered a 99 mph fastball at the bottom of the zone for strike three on Sunday, clinching a 4-2 victory over the Tigers at Comerica Park and the first winning season for the Pirates since 2018.

Pittsburgh made an 11-win improvement from just a season ago, finishing two spots out of the final NL Wild Card spot after hanging in the fight until mid-September. A 15-9 record in September pushed the Pirates over .500 for good and set the stage for a promising future.

“Stepping stone is a great word. The foundation has started to be built,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said postgame. “A lot of good things happened this year. Disappointed we’re not going to the playoffs. And there’s a really good foundation. Good work went into this year. A lot to learn from. A lot of really good things and excited about the future.”

The Pirates have grown together through 2026, overcoming injuries throughout the campaign that made winning more difficult but also created opportunities for younger players. Top prospect Konnor Griffin missed half of his age-20 season with multiple IL stints, but he showed the spark of a future star and face of the franchise.

Griffin did just that for the final time at Comerica Park this season on Sunday, leading off the game with a solo home run into left field. He added an RBI single in the fourth to build a lead Pittsburgh never relinquished.

Third-base coach Tony Beasley joined the Pirates ahead of the 2026 season, bringing experience from his time as third-base coach for the 2023 World Series champion Rangers. Texas had not won a World Series until that season, and Beasley loved the opportunity of helping break another drought.

“I know we can do it, and I don't think we're as far away as people think,” Beasley told MLB.com. “Once you get in the playoffs, all bets are off, especially if you have pitching, and we have that. So we've got to find a way to get in next year, and just when we get in, wreak havoc on everybody we play.

“I always say, like [long-time manager] Chuck Tanner used to say, we need players to do ordinary things extraordinarily well. And I think if we adopt that and just really lock in on that and execute that, then we're going to be where we need to be next year and the year after that. We have a young nucleus, a young core of pitching, position players that's sustainable for the next foreseeable future.”

The Pirates are learning how to win and finding their identity along the way. By staying in the race until Sept. 18, Kelly felt his team gained valuable experience under postseason pressure, similar to what his 2009 Tigers team experienced before reaching the playoffs multiple times in subsequent years.

The experience was a different feeling for many young Pirates players new to the big leagues, or veterans unfamiliar with the stakes. As Braxton Ashcraft put it, Pittsburgh won plenty of games it shouldn’t have, coming back to make things interesting at the very least and causing mayhem along the way.

“That's who we are. That's our identity. Being able to put the pressure on teams from the first inning,” Ashcraft said.

The Pirates saw breakouts of young starters Ashcraft and Jared Jones, while reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes took a slight step back, but still turned in a 3.4 bWAR in 32 starts. An offseason trade for Brandon Lowe, Mason Montgomery and Jake Mangum has paid dividends and then some, with Montgomery becoming a star closer and Lowe leading the team in home runs and RBIs.

Lowe’s status for 2027 is the only one in question for Pittsburgh as he’s set to become one of the top free agents on the market. Most of the rest of the roster is under contract, with the Pirates hoping to take the next step toward postseason contention. Veteran Ryan O’Hearn will play a key role in that.

“It feels like something to build on,” O’Hearn said. “Doesn't feel like this is the end of an era or something like that. I've been on teams where it kind of feels like that, but this deal definitely feels like a core that you'd like to build around as a potential to do something special moving forward.”