Tim Benz: For Pirates fans, the MLB playoffs are a bittersweet reminder of what the sport can be — and what their team is not

A little after 7 p.m. I took a break from watching the Yankees-Red Sox playoff game between innings. I walked out on my back deck overlooking the North Side of Pittsburgh. The sunset was coloring the pastel skies over PNC Park, and I thought, “What a great night this would be for a postseason game in Pittsb…”

Eh, never mind. Who am I kidding? When is that ever going to happen again?

Think about it. It’s now been 10 seasons since the Pirates last played in the postseason. They are already halfway back to the 20-year drought Pittsburgh baseball fans endured between the start of 1993 and the end of 2012.

At this point, I’m having trouble remembering that the dry spell ever stopped for those three seasons between 2013-15.

Of course, all 20 of those seasons were sub-.500. That’s not the case in this new drought. Thus far, only nine of the 10 have been under .500.

Only.

The Pirates’ extended postseason absence was underscored by the tone of the afternoon. Day 1 of the baseball playoffs is a blast. It’s a noon-to-midnight reminder for dormant Pittsburgh baseball fans who have been lulled into hibernation after 162 games with no consequences that the sport can actually feel important when there are high stakes on the line.

That’s something we haven’t seen since Kyle Schwarber practically hit one across the Allegheny River for the Chicago Cubs in the third inning of their 2015 Wild Card victory at PNC Park to essentially end the Pirates’ postseason existence.

#OTD in 2015, Kyle Schwarber sent a ball into the Allegheny River off Gerrit Cole. pic.twitter.com/ewyYtnxGFJ

— Andy Martínez (@amartinez_11) October 7, 2020

John Wehner’s voice was rattling in my head as I walked back inside to watch some more of the game. I remember listening to him on the radio call of Paul Skenes’ last start of 2025 in Cincinnati.

That was last Wednesday. The night he dominated the playoff-contending Reds to the tune of seven strikeouts over six innings. Eventually, after a 4-3 extra-innings win, the Pirates lowered Cincy’s record to a pedestrian 80-78.

As the Pirates were hitting in the top of the seventh after Skenes was pulled, I remember an incredulous and somewhat baffled Wehner bemoaning, “Even if the Reds lose tonight, they still might make the playoffs with, like … 84 wins.”

Actually, they ended up making the playoffs with 83.

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Nope. It doesn’t take much. That was Wehner’s point. Six of 15 teams in each league make the playoffs. Win about half your games. Finish just barely in the top half of the league. That’s good enough to qualify for MLB’s postseason these days.

Surely that’s attainable for these Pirates with one of the best young pitching staffs in the league.

Isn’t it?

It should be. That’s if Pirates ownership had the least bit of interest in spending a little more money than the piddly $84 million the organization was laying out by year’s end.

Yet the guy who owns the team, Bob Nutting, said at the home opener this year, “I’ve done everything that I can to provide the tools and resources to the team.”

That doesn’t sound like a person who is very interested in increasing payroll. Nor does it look like he’s all that interested in doing anything different in the baseball operations department, seeing as how the team revealed this week that both manager Don Kelly and general manager Ben Cherington will be back in 2026.

That’s a joke, especially when it comes to Cherington.

Meanwhile, Mets owner Steve Cohen is apologizing because his $340 million payroll wasn’t good enough to make the playoffs in New York.

Mets fans everywhere. I owe you an apology . You did your part by showing up and supporting the team. We didn't do our part. We will do a post-mortem and figure out the obvious and less obvious reasons why the team didn't perform up to your and my expectations
We are all feeling…

— Steven Cohen (@StevenACohen2) September 29, 2025

Go figure. Imagine that.

The thing is, you don’t have to spend $340 million to at least make the playoffs. The small market Reds and even smaller market Brewers both ended the season with under $117 million payrolls.

The Pirates could get there if the owner wanted to, and if the general manager knew what he was doing.

But since neither of those things is true, check back with me in another 10 years and we’ll see if the 20 years of playoff darkness have been fully replicated.

I know which way I’m leaning.