The Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t make the playoffs, but they still learned some valuable lessons throughout the 2026 season. Here are some of those lessons.

The Pirates didn’t reach the playoffs, but they played meaningful baseball through the final three regular-season series. That came down to Pittsburgh finally putting together a quality lineup that could score consistently.

It’s been well documented up to this point, but the Pirates had the worst OPS in 2025 (.655) and the sixth-best in 2026 (.734). That improvement was the main reason Pittsburgh finished 82 -140.

The pitching was much less consistent in 2026 than the previous season. The team’s 4.14 ERA was only the 16th-best in baseball. However, when the pitching staff struggled to prevent runs, the lineup had its back and kept them in games.

The lesson here is not to be afraid to add veteran bats through free agency or trade. Sometimes they won’t work, as in the case of Marcell Ozuna, or you get an All-Star who can help turn a franchise around, like Brandon Lowe.

Paul Skenes has been one of baseball’s best pitchers since he debuted toward the beginning of 2024. The Pirates had no reason to believe the 2026 campaign would be any different, but it was.

For the first time in his career, Skenes faced quite a bit of adversity throughout the year. His 3.82 ERA, while still good, was almost two runs higher than a year ago, and his average fastball velocity started to plummet, seemingly out of nowhere.

These points aren’t to criticize Skenes, who, in comparison to the rest of the big-league pitchers, still had a strong season on the mound.

These facts are simply to point out that the Pirates learned that a team can’t predict the future of a pitcher. Pitching depth is critical throughout an organization.

Just like pitching, a team can never predict which players will end up on the injured list and who will make it through the season healthy. Unfortunately for the Pirates, a handful of the team’s top and core players missed a few weeks or up to a few months at some point throughout the year.

Jared Jones, Jared Triolo, Jake Mangum, Ryan O’Hearn, Konnor Griffin, Oneil Cruz, Spencer Horwitz, Endy Rodriguez, Rafael Flores Jr., Mitch Keller, Braxton Ashcraft, and Esmerlyn Valdez all ended up on the injured list at least once.

In the case of Cruz, Griffin, and Keller, they all ended up on the 60-day injured list.

If one or two of those key players didn’t face injuries, maybe the Pirates would have been playing postseason baseball. Unfortunately, that’s just something no one can control.