PITTSBURGH -- After all the talk about how this season would be a sprint and not a marathon, there is no doubt what’s facing the Pirates over the next three weeks: It’s a race to the finish line.

Thursday was their final scheduled off-day of the season. With a couple doubleheaders lined up to make up for previous postponements, Pittsburgh will play 19 games over the final 17 days of the season, beginning Friday night in Kansas City.

At 14-27, the Pirates are far out of the expanded postseason picture. They’ve talked about playing the role of spoiler, but what else can they accomplish? Although manager Derek Shelton recently mentioned creating a “meritocracy in terms of playing,” he said the Pirates won’t be awarding or taking away jobs for next season based on this particularly small sample size. It seems they’re mostly focusing on two ideas Shelton mentioned Wednesday afternoon.

“No. 1, try to get better every day,” Shelton said. “And No. 2, try to isolate teaching points, so if there are certain things that we’re not doing, that we’re making sure we’re covering them.”

Here are six things the Pirates need to see down the stretch.

Get the bats back
It’s difficult to overstate just how upside-down the Pirates’ lineup has been. Their most productive regular hitters have been Colin Moran (.848 OPS), Jacob Stallings (.779) and Erik González (.756). They’re the only three Pittsburgh players who have more than 45 plate appearances and an adjusted OPS+ better than the league average.

Meanwhile, the Pirates haven’t gotten nearly what they expected out of Josh Bell (.601 OPS), Bryan Reynolds (.596), Kevin Newman (.588), Adam Frazier (.640) and Gregory Polanco (.542). Those five were supposed to form the heart of Pittsburgh’s lineup, and they have all dramatically underperformed. The Pirates haven’t lost faith in that group, but they want to see those players finish strong -- even if it’s just to boost their confidence heading into the offseason.

"I think we definitely need to do that,” Shelton said. “We need to have, like we've talked about, teaching points. We need to take steps forward and we need to use these 19 games to get better, so I think it's very important."

Focus on the future
The Pirates took one step in this direction when they handed center field to Cole Tucker and now-injured prospect Anthony Alford. They took another when they called up Ke'Bryan Hayes to play third base. So far, they’ve seen mixed results from Tucker -- a .575 OPS and occasional flashes of his potential in the outfield despite his inexperience -- and a good deal of promise from Hayes. They’re young players who will be around for a while, so the Pirates need to see what they can do.

Nearly everyone on the team is under club control heading into next year, so they won’t -- and shouldn’t -- abandon their current roster. The players who are here now still matter, whether it’s for the Pirates’ future on the field or in the trade market. But they can prioritize some younger players, including Hayes and Tucker and perhaps relief prospects like Blake Cederlind and Nick Mears.

One thing to consider here, though, is the Pirates’ 40-man roster. With the number of players they’ll have to activate from the 45-day injured list at the beginning of the offseason, they likely won’t add many non-roster players down the stretch.

Get healthy -- and stay healthy
Starter Mitch Keller faced hitters in a three-inning live batting-practice session on Wednesday, which could set him up for a return to the rotation early next week. Jameson Taillon also threw 25 pitches in live BP on Wednesday, and he’s nearing the end of what’s been an encouraging recovery process from his second Tommy John surgery.

It would benefit the Pirates greatly to know they’ll have those two in the fold heading into the offseason, of course. They also need to keep everyone else healthy, which might mean portioning playing time to avoid wearing down certain players. They cannot afford to sustain even more injuries this season, especially to young players, that might affect them in the future.

Sort out their rotation options
Assuming Taillon and Keller return in good health and the Pirates don’t pick up Chris Archer’s club option for next season, the Bucs could have eight MLB-ready starting options for next year as they enter the offseason: Taillon, Keller, Joe Musgrove, Chad Kuhl, Steven Brault, Trevor Williams, JT Brubaker and Cody Ponce.

Rotation depth is important, and it’s entirely possible the Pirates will deal away at least one of those pitchers before Spring Training. (Musgrove was sought after at the Trade Deadline, for instance, and Kuhl and Williams reportedly attracted interest as well.) So it’s important for them to get more looks at their younger arms -- controllable pitchers like Keller, Brubaker and Ponce -- to determine if they can be part of the Pirates’ future and where they best fit moving forward.

Maintain momentum in the ‘pen
The Pirates have sustained more significant injuries in their bullpen than anywhere else, so it’s a wonder that their relief corps was so solid through the second third of the season. Shelton found a quintet he can trust in Richard Rodríguez, Chris Stratton, Geoff Hartlieb, Sam Howard and Nik Turley, and they settled into roles that helped stabilize what had been one of Pittsburgh’s biggest weaknesses.

It’s important that the Pirates continue to find answers in the bullpen, because you can never have enough pitching depth -- and because they could move some of their current arms to add prospects to their system. In that regard, they must be encouraged by Kyle Crick’s effectiveness despite his diminished velocity, which they believe will return over time, as well as the multi-inning efforts of righty Nick Tropeano.

The Pirates want to create a competitive atmosphere next Spring Training, and they have the makings of a bullpen competition with those relievers; the injured trio of Nick Burdi, Michael Feliz and Clay Holmes; and younger arms like Cederlind and Mears.

Play cleaner defense
This one’s simple: The Pirates lead the Majors with 39 errors. According to Sports Info Solutions’ Defensive Runs Saved, they have been below-average this year at first base, third base, shortstop, center field and right field while being above-average at catcher, second base and in left field.

Seeing more of González and Hayes on the left side of the infield should help clean that up. But this is, as much as anything, related to the Pirates’ point about creating a culture that expects fundamentally sound play. Physical errors are going to happen, as Shelton has said, but they need to minimize their mental mistakes to show they’re learning and getting better.