The Best and Worst for Pirates at Halfway Point of ’26 Season
The Pirates hit the halfway point of the season with a 5-1 win over the Mariners at PNC Park on Thursday afternoon.
With the win, the Pirates improved to 41-40 and are above .500 81 games into the season for the first time since 2015, which ended up being their most recent postseason appearance.
Pittsburgh sits in fourth place in a surprisingly strong National League Central and trails the first-place Brewers by 9.5 games. While they have a lot of ground to make up in the division, the Pirates are only 2.5 games out of a wild-card spot.
In fact, the Pirates have mid-pack odds to make the playoffs (+235) and are heavy favorites to beat the Reds on Friday.
The Pirates have had a contender-like feel this season, but there have been several reasons the team believes they still haven’t played to their full potential just yet.
“We’re moving in the right direction,” said Brandon Lowe. “Obviously, there are some games that we’ve lost in situations we probably shouldn’t have. As a whole, we’ve lost them on every side of the ball. I think everyone in here takes them as learning experiences, and you have those in the first. Hopefully, we’ve gotten some of those out of the way, and we can start playing some really good baseball here and have some fun here in the second half.”
One half down. One to go. Here is the best and the worst through the first 81 games of the year.
MVP: Bryan Reynolds
Reynolds has bounced back from a down 2025 season and is playing at an All-Star level once again. The 31-year-old has reached base safely in 30 straight games, the longest-active streak in MLB, and is also riding a 15-game hitting streak.
Reynolds has played in all 81 games for the Pirates this season and carries a robust .291/.405/.484 batting line with 19 doubles, two triples, 11 home runs, 52 RBI and five stolen bases. He ranks second in the National League in on-base percentage, eighth in OPS and is tied for seventh in RBI.
The offseason additions of Brandon Lowe and Ryan O’Hearn have been huge, but Reynolds having his best season since 2021 is perhaps the biggest reason the Pirates have gone from a historically-bad offense last season to one of the better units in the league this year.
LVP: Marcell Ozuna
While Lowe and O’Hearn have both panned out so far, the addition of Ozuna as a free agent signing in the offseason has not.
The 35-year-old owns a .201/.281/.317 batting line with five doubles, six home runs and 25 RBI in 54 games. Among players who have had at least 220 plate appearances, Ozuna’s .597 OPS is the sixth-worst mark in MLB.
Ozuna has been playing better of late, but his playing time is getting more scarce, a trend that will surely continue once the Pirates are back to full strength with Oneil Cruz, Konnor Griffin and Spencer Horwitz all currently on the injured list.
Cy Young: Braxton Ashcraft
I could very easily have gone with Paul Skenes, whose ERA is a bit higher than it’s been the last two years but is still pitching like an All-Star. No argument from me if he’s your pick.
But Ashcraft has been every bit as good as Skenes, and his performance against the Mariners on Wednesday was the tie-breaker for me. Ashcraft struck out 10 Mariners and didn’t walk a batter in six innings. He became the first Pirates pitcher in the Modern Era to have two games in the same season with double-digit strikeouts and no walks.
Through 16 starts to begin the year, Ashcraft is 7-3 with a 3.07 ERA and is tied for eighth in baseball with 107 strikeouts in 96.2 innings. The right-hander is emerging as a top-of-the-rotation arm with Skenes. I would say he’s Robin to Skenes’ Batman, but both have pitched to the superhero’s caliber.
Cy Old: The Bullpen
Why haven’t the Pirates been better than they currently are? The bullpen is the biggest reason.
Pittsburgh’s 4.32 bullpen ERA ranks 18th in MLB. They’ve blown 16 saves. Only four teams have had more. Several relievers have underperformed this season, leaving the entire unit vulnerable.
If the Pirates want to emerge as true contenders during the second half, they need to get better results from their bullpen. Maybe a couple deadlines deals will do the trick. The bullpen performed well in the team’s most recent series against the Mariners, but it’s going to take more than a three-game stretch to signal meaningful progress.
Rookie of the First Half: Konnor Griffin
Although he’s been sidelined for all of June with a forearm strain, Griffin’s impact for the Pirates this season in all facets of the game has been impressive. The 20-year-old has a .270/.327/.402 batting line with nine doubles, two triples, four home runs and 22 RBI in 51 games. He’s also stolen 14 bases and has three defensive runs saved at shortstop.
In Griffin’s absence, the Pirates have gone 10-12, but the rookie should be returning in short order after starting a rehab assignment on Wednesday night with Double-A Altoona.
Griffin’s franchise-record nine-year extension signed shortly after his debut has probably been the biggest story for the Pirates this season. The budding star is here to stay for the foreseeable future, and the Pirates are better off because of it.
Biggest Surprise: Evan Sisk
Not many people — myself included — had Sisk being Pittsburgh’s top reliever through the first half, especially after he started the season with Triple-A Indianapolis.
Through 35 innings (30 appearances) this season, Sisk is 1-0 with a miniscule 1.80 ERA. Among left-handed relievers to log 30-plus innings this season, he ranks sixth in ERA.
Last year’s trade that sent left-handed pitcher Bailey Falter to the Royals for Sisk and Callan Moss looked head-scratching, but it looks like a savvy move from general manager Ben Cherington. The bullpen would look even worse without Sisk in it.
Biggest Disappointment: Justin Lawrence
The Pirates had high hopes for Lawrence coming into the season. I did too.
Instead, Lawrence’s struggles were one of the bigger reasons the bullpen has underperformed this season. Lawrence looked destined to be slotted into a leverage role given his stuff and what he did last season when healthy — someone the Pirates could count on to handle some key situations.
Instead, Lawrence never got into a groove and ended up getting designated for assignment on May 29 after going 0-2 with a 5.32 ERA in 23 appearances.
Best Game: Bryan Reynolds’ Walk-Off Against Twins
There was already a buzz at PNC Park on May 29 for a game against the Twins when Jared Jones made his return to the mound after undergoing right elbow surgery a little over a year prior.
The Pirates built a 3-1 lead after the first inning, only to see Minnesota claim a 5-3 lead. But Pittsburgh rallied to score three unanswered runs, capped off by a memorable Bryan Reynolds walk-off two-run home run to left field off Taylor Rogers.
Oneil Cruz hit a game-tying two run home run in the third inning, and rookie Wilber Dotel threw three-scoreless innings of relief to set the stage for Reynolds.
*The Pirates’ comeback win over the Dodgers on June 10 was also considered.
Worst Game: Bullpen Blowup in Houston
The Pirates took a commanding 9-5 lead in the top of the eighth against the Astros in Houston on June 3, only to let the game slip away in the bottom of the inning.
Houston scored six runs in the inning. Mason Montgomery was charged with three earned runs and only got two outs. Gregory Soto was called upon and allowed all four batters he faced to reach before ending with three runs charged to his line. Brandan Bidois finally got the final out of the inning after Houston sent 11 batters to the plate in a game that took 3 hours and 42 minutes.
According to ESPN, the Pirates had as high as a 98.4% chance of winning.
*The Pirates’ collapse against the Phillies on May 15 was also considered.
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