Pittsburgh Pirates All-Star starting pitcher Paul Skenes hasn't been at his best all season, and he revealed one of the reasons as to why he's struggled. Skenes believes the 2026 World Baseball Classic, which he participated in during spring training, is one of the main factors which affected him this season. "There are a lot of other factors, so I don’t want to put everything on that," Skenes said, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Colin Beazley.
"But I feel like that was kind of the root of it a little bit. "It definitely affected the year. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm the only one." Skenes has a career-worst 3.91 ERA through 31 starts this season, losing double-digit games for the second consecutive season.
Prior to this year, Skenes never had an ERA higher than 2.00 over the course of any season. His velocity is one of the most worrying parts of his decline, as his fastball — which averaged 98.2 miles per hour during his Cy Young campaign in 2025 — now averages 96.8 mph. In addition to his ERA and velocity, his whiff rate, strikeout rate and walk rate have all gotten worse during the 2026 season.
The Pirates, despite putting together a season far better than most expected, are still going to fall short of the postseason this year. The play in an extremely difficult division, as the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs are both great teams, and they're already eliminated from playoff contention in the Wild Card. With a 79-77 record, they currently sit seven games back of the Philadelphia Phillies, who hold the final spot in the Wild Card behind the Cubs and San Diego Padres.
While they may have fallen short, they showed incredible improvement as a team, as they finished last season with just 71 wins. Their final two series come against the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers, though neither of them matter, as both teams are also already eliminated from the postseason.
The Pirates can hang their hat on an impressive season nonetheless, and will aim to earn a spot in the postseason for the first time since the 2015 season.
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