{"id":571717,"date":"2026-02-14T06:59:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T06:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/571717\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T06:59:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T06:59:18","slug":"pirates-get-optimistic-2026-outlook-with-superb-offseason-grade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/571717\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirates Get Optimistic 2026 Outlook With Superb Offseason Grade"},"content":{"rendered":"

With spring training underway, offseason grades have been rolling in lately. And for the first time in a while, the Pittsburgh Pirates aced the test<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Pirates have received a steady stream of praise<\/a> for their impressive work this winter, which featured a complete overhaul of their lineup. After ranking last in MLB in scoring and home runs last season, Pittsburgh addressed its offensive woes by adding three All-Star sluggers in Brandon Lowe, Ryan O\u2019Hearn and Marcell Ozuna. It also acquired a breakout candidate in Jhostynxon Garcia, who has All-Star potential.<\/p>\n

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With MLB\u2019s No. 1 prospect, Konnor Griffin, expected to debut this season<\/a>, the Pirates should have much more firepower<\/a> than they did last year. Assuming their pitching staff, which ranked seventh in ERA last year, remains healthy and effective, they should be able to compete for a playoff spot.<\/p>\n

In his offseason grades for The Ringer<\/a> this week, Anthony Dabbundo gave Pittsburgh a well-deserved A-.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsider me an optimist when it comes to the 2026 Pittsburgh Pirates. Pittsburgh added serious power to the lineup, which totally lacked it last year,\u201d Dabbundo wrote, citing the additions of O\u2019Hearn, Ozuna, Lowe and Garcia. \u201cThe Pirates had the league\u2019s second-worst offense in 2025. If that jumps up to even, say, 20th, Pittsburgh will finish above .500.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also high on the Pirates\u2019 pitching staff, which looks like one of MLB\u2019s best on paper.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWith Cy Young candidate Paul Skenes, Bubba Chandler, Mitch Keller, and eventually Jared Jones (once he\u2019s back from injury), this pitching staff is ready to compete in the National League Central,\u201d Dabbundo added.<\/p>\n

FanGraphs agrees<\/a>, giving Pittsburgh the second-best postseason odds in the NL Central behind the Chicago Cubs. After finishing last in the division last year, the Pirates seem poised for a major leap<\/a> this season.<\/p>\n

More Pirates: Why MLB Writer Is \u2018Buying Stock\u2019 In Pirates As Playoff Contenders<\/a><\/p>\n

The post Pirates Get Optimistic 2026 Outlook With Superb Offseason Grade<\/a> appeared first on SportsNet Pittsburgh<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With spring training underway, offseason grades have been rolling in lately. And for the first time in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2402],"tags":[5,1751,707,24,5627,19257,78,4163,4,877,10,776,64,4297,626],"class_list":{"0":"post-571717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-pirates","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-brandon-lowe","10":"tag-bubba-chandler","11":"tag-chicago-cubs","12":"tag-jared-jones","13":"tag-jhostynxon-garcia","14":"tag-marcell-ozuna","15":"tag-mitch-keller","16":"tag-mlb","17":"tag-paul-skenes","18":"tag-pirates","19":"tag-pittsburgh","20":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","21":"tag-pittsburghpirates","22":"tag-ryan-ohearn"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116067694277584518","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}