Why Paul Skenes Is Pirates ‘X-Factor’ Amid Contested Wild Card

The Pittsburgh Pirates are in a tightly contested National League Wild Card hunt, sitting 5.5 games behind a spot, which is within range, but still far enough back that things are a little bit dicey.

As the postseason draws near, the Pirates need to get the most out of their players. But there is one player who stands out as the team's obvious "X-Factor" down the home stretch.

As Jim Bowden of The Athletic highlighted, Paul Skenes is the Pirates' "X-Factor" this season, as he might be the sole deciding factor for Pittsburgh amid their Wild Card postseason push this season.

"He's the most important player on the Pirates," Bowden writes. "He needs to be an ace again if they want to stay in the wild-card race and sneak into the playoffs."

Skenes has a 3.95 ERA this season with 2.0 bWAR and a 9-11 record. It's not been a good year for the right-hander, especially considering his sub 2.00 ERA's the previous two seasons.

If the Pirates were getting the best version of Skenes, they might be in the postseason hunt right now. Instead, they have a major question mark about his pitching ability.

He has been struggling with his fastball location and velocity, and since his start against the Philadelphia Phillies on May 17, it's been a rough year for the 2025 Cy Young winner.

Skenes has gone 3-9 since then, and the Pirates are 3-14 in games that Skenes has pitched since that May 17 Phillies game. His 5.06 ERA is way too high for how good he should be.

Before that start against the Phillies, and after his disastrous Opening Day start against the New York Mets, Skenes had a 6-1 record with a 1.09 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 49.1 innings pitched.

He looked like his Cy-Young self again, and there was a lot of optimism. If he could even just get halfway there and pitch to the tune of a 3.00 ERA the rest of the season, that might be enough to get the Pirates into the postseason conversation.

But if his struggles recently continue, he could be one of the main reasons why Pittsburgh misses the postseason. This is a big home stretch for Skenes and the Pirates, and he's their obvious X-Factor for the rest of the year.