Paul Skenes Optimistic About Pirates' Future

Skenes sees that as a goal for the Pirates and that this team as one where they'll go and achieve their goals, which would make leaving something he'd regret doing.

“The hardest part of leaving Air Force for me is we had just won a conference championship," Skenes said. "The first one in the school’s history and we had built that and there was unfinished work that needed to be done. 

“That's how it feels right now. We won the conference championship at Air Force. That's what is on the horizon for us. We just have to do that and leaving before that would leave a bad taste in my mouth because there was work to be done that we didn't do."

Pirates Recent History of Losing

The Pirates have had a long history of losing that extends far beyond Skenes' playing days.

Pittsburgh has had just four winning seasons over the past 33 campaigns and three postseason appearances, which took place from 2013-15. 

The Pirates set a North American Professional Sports record for 20 consecutive losing seasons from 1993-2012, where they didn't finish a season with a record of .500 or above. 

Pittsburgh hasn't made the postseason since 2015 and had a winning season since 2018, both the second longest streaks for any MLB team, with only the Los Angeles Angels having longer streaks. 

How Pirates' Losing Affected Paul Skenes 2025 Season

Skenes had an incredible season for the Pirates, posting a 1.97 ERA over 187.2 innings pitched, 216 strikeouts to 42 walks, a .199 opposing batting average and a 0.95 WHIP, along with a 10.36 K/9, a 2.01 BB/9 and a 5.14 K/BB.

He ranked amongst the best pitchers in the MLB, with the lowest ERA, tied for the fourth-most strikeouts, the fourth-lowest WHIP, the sixth-lowest batting average and the 10th-most innings pitched, plus the fifth best K/BB, seventh best K/9 and ninth best BB/9.

Skenes also ranked highly in the NL, with the lowest WHIP, the fourth-lowest batting average, tied for the second-most strikeouts and the fourth-most innings pitched, as well as the second-best K/BB and both the fifth-best K/9 and BB/9.

He went on and won numerous accolades, like with Baseball Digest naming him their Pitcher of the Year, the MLB Players Association Choice Awards naming him the NL Outstanding Pitcher of the Year and Sporting News naming Skenes to their All-Star team.

Skenes also became just the third Pirates pitcher to win the Cy Young Award, along with Doug Drabek in 1990 and Vern Law in 1960.

He managed to do so while having just a 10-10 record in 32 starts, as he consistently received poor run support throughout.