Despite having the unanimous NL Cy Young Award winner last year in Paul Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates still finished last in the NL Central and 20 games below .500. While their pitching was great, their offense was last in baseball in numerous categories, including runs, home runs and OPS.

Accordingly, the Pirates went to work in the offseason, focusing on upgrading their lineup to give Skenes and his fellow hurlers more run support.

Now, after adding three former All-Stars to their lineup along with Jhostynxon Garcia and potentially Konnor Griffin, it looks like Pittsburgh succeeded. The offense is projected to score considerably more runs than last year, and thus win significantly more games.

Skenes sounds excited about the 2026 Pirates based on his appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday.

“We signed some good guys, we made some good trades,” said Skenes, who’s currently at the Team USA World Baseball Classic training camp in Scottsdale, Arizona. “It’s a different vibe in camp right now. As excited as I am to be here right now, I’m a little upset that I’m not in camp. Kinda missing out there. It’s gonna be fun.”

While Skenes misses his teammates, he’s also looking forward to his first WBC appearance with Team USA. He recently told Ken Rosenthal that he plans to make two starts in the upcoming tournament if Team USA advances, as expected.

In the meantime, his teammates are back in Bradenton, Florida, getting ready for Opening Day against the New York Mets on March 26. Assuming he’s healthy, Skenes will presumably be on the mound for Pittsburgh at Citi Field that day, hopefully fresh off a championship with Team USA.

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