Pirates Receive Poor Midseason Grade from ESPN

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates haven't had a great season at all in 2025, ranking among the worst in baseball.

The Pirates are 38-56 overall, 17.0 games back of the Chicago Cubs in first place of the National League Central division, 13 games back from a Wild Card spot and have the third worst record in baseball, with only the Chicago White Sox (31-62) and the Colorado Rockies (21-72) below them.

Pittsburgh ranks amongst the worst hitting teams in baseball in numerous categories, with the worst slugging percentage (.340), ranking tied for the worst OPS withe White Sox (.641), fourth worst batting average (.230) and seventh worst on-base percentage (.301).

The Pirates also have the least home runs (64), tied for the least doubles (123), second least RBIs (309), tied for the fourth least hits (712) and have the fourth most strikeouts (821).

They went 26 straight games scoring four runs or less in each contest, which tied an MLB record for the longest such streak.

The Pirates also just suffered two sweeps on the road vs. the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park, July 4-6, and the Kansas City Royals, July 7-9, dropping them to 12-35 on the road in 2025.

Andrew McCutchen is the only qualified player on the team with a batting average over .250, and the other players that have played considerable amount that have hit above .250 include left fielder Tommy Pham (.250), second baseman Adam Frazier (.258) and shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa (.267).

The Pirates have gotten another great season from right-handed starting pitcher Paul Skenes, who earned his second consecutive All-Star nod in as many MLB seasons.

Pittsburgh also possesses a strong starting pitching rotation, including right-handed pitchers in Mitch Keller and rookie Mike Burrows, plus left-handed pitchers in Bailey Falter and Andrew Heaney.

The Pirates' bullpen is another source of good performances, with both right-handed pitchers David Bednar and Dennis Santana having strong respective campaigns, but the poor offense is the main culprit for a disappointing season.

Pittsburgh also fired manager Derek Shelton after a 12-26 start. Don Kelly took over on May 8 and is 26-30 so far.

David Schoenfield of ESPN gave out a midseason grade for each MLB team and awarded the Pirates a 'D+'. Despite the low grade, this was still higher than six other steams, as he awarded the Washington Nationals a 'D', the Cleveland Guardians and Athletics a 'D-', and the Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles and Rockies an 'F'.

"Overall, it's been yet another bad season, despite Paul Skenes' brilliance," Schoenfield wrote. "Really, do we talk enough about him? Yes, we do talk about him, but he has a 1.95 ERA through his first 42 career starts. Incredible."

"Here's an amazing thing about baseball. The Pirates are not a good team, but they recently put together one of the best six-game stretches in history. That's not stretching the description. First, they swept the Mets -- a good team -- by scores of 9-1, 9-2 and 12-1. Then they swept the Cardinals -- a good team -- with three shutouts, 7-0, 1-0 and 5-0. They became the first team since at least 1901 to score 43 runs or more and allow four runs or fewer in a six-game stretch. And then they promptly got shut out three games in a row, making them the first to win three straight shutouts and then lose three straight shutouts."