For the Pittsburgh Pirates, the final weekend of the 2026 season will be a chance to look back at the progress they have made with an eye on how they can take the next step forward next year.
For the Detroit Tigers, the next three days are about wondering why their season didn’t match up to the advanced metrics.
The Pirates will look to lock up a winning season on Friday, when they visit the Tigers in the opener of an interleague series.
Bubba Chandler (8-9, 4.34 ERA) is slated to start for the Pirates against the Tigers’ Jackson Jobe (2-3, 3.98) in a battle of promising 24-year-old right-handers.
The Pirates ensured themselves no worse than a .500 record on Thursday, when they edged the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 in the decisive game of a three-game series. The Tigers had Thursday off after dropping the rubber match of a three-game set to the host Washington Nationals, falling 4-2 on Wednesday.
Pittsburgh (81-78) snapped its streak of seven straight losing seasons. One more win and the Pirates would match the 82 victories they recorded in 2018 — their lone winning campaign since the franchise last went to the playoffs in 2015.
Defending National League Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes didn’t meet the standards of his first two seasons while finishing 10-11 with a 3.82 ERA and 200 strikeouts. However, center fielder Oneil Cruz (.280 with 20 homers and 29 stolen bases) had his long-awaited breakout year while the trio of Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft and Jared Jones — all of whom are 26 or younger — are 27-21 with a 3.95 ERA in 78 games (77 starts).
“Always tough to talk about because the postseason was the goal,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “I think as you look at it and going through ups, downs, injuries, everything this year — really cool to get the 81st win here in front of our fans, Not done yet. We have to keep on going.”
The Tigers (74-85) will not be going on to the playoffs despite entering the final weekend with a run differential of plus-71 — the best in the American League Central and the fourth best in the AL overall.
Only three teams since 1995 have finished under .500 with a run differential of at least plus-60: The 1995 Baltimore Orioles (71-73 with a plus-64 run differential), the 2005 Toronto Blue Jays (80-82 with a plus-70 run differential) and Cleveland in 2006 (78-84 with a plus-88 run differential).
“Despite all the ups and downs and roller coaster ride that this season has been, we literally fell seven days short,” manager A.J. Hinch said after Detroit was eliminated from playoff contention. “That’s not trying to gain too much positivity out of it, because I know that you need to play a lot better than we did.”
One player who performed as well or better than could have been expected is Kevin McGonigle, the favorite to win AL Rookie of the Year. The 22-year-old third baseman is batting .278 with a .378 on-base percentage, a .428 slugging percentage, 17 homers and 70 RBIs in 153 games.
McGonigle is the fifth rookie since 1990 to reach base safely 262 times, joining Ben Grieve (1998), Ichiro Suzuki (2001), Albert Pujols (2001) and Aaron Judge (2017).
“It’s a pretty cool accomplishment,” McGonigle said. “First off, I don’t think it would be possible without the guys in this clubhouse, the way they push me every day, the way we build off each other. They’ve been amazing this year for my rookie season. …
“To have my name up there with guys like that is pretty special.”
Chandler didn’t factor into the decision in his most recent start, when he allowed three runs over four innings in the Pirates’ 6-5 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday. He has never opposed the Tigers.
Jobe took a loss on Saturday after giving up three runs over six innings as the Tigers fell 3-1 to the Chicago White Sox.
Jobe didn’t factor into the decision in his lone start against the Pirates. He surrendered just one run over 5 1/3 innings in Detroit’s 4-3 loss on Aug. 19.
–Field Level Media
