The Pittsburgh Pirates haven’t made the playoffs since 2015.

It’s been even longer since the team has won their division, as the Pirates last finished in first place in 1992, when they were playing in the NL East.

MLB.com senior writer Anthony Castrovince revealed his 10 “bold predictions” for the 2026 MLB season on Friday, saying that Pittsburgh will capture the NL Central.

“As it stands, if there’s any division in which conditions might be ripe for a team to go worst to first in 2026 (the way the Blue Jays did in the AL East last year), it’s probably the NL Central,” Castrovince wrote. “The defending division champion Brewers traded away their ace. The Cubs brought in Alex Bregman but lost Kyle Tucker. The Reds are uber-reliant on their strong starting staff, and that staff will be without Hunter Greene for at least half a season. The Cardinals traded many of the best players from a not-very-good team.”

It’s not just their opponents that make the Pirates an intriguing bet to come in first place this year.

Pittsburgh already had a promising young core including reigning NL Cy Young award winner Paul Skenes and shortstop top prospect Konnor Griffin entering the offseason and made notable additions to their roster over the winter.

The Pirates signed Jose Urquidy to bolster their starting rotation and landed multiple high impact bats to their offense, including three-time All-Star Marcell Ozuna, two-time All-Star Brandon Lowe and 2025 All-Star Ryan O’Hearn.

“So yeah, why not the Buccos? They’ve got the best young pitcher in the sport in Paul Skenes. They’ve got pitching aplenty behind him, with breakout candidates like Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft. They’ve got baseball’s No. 1 prospect in five-tool shortstop Konnor Griffin. They added a lot of power to their offense, albeit at the expense of their defense. Their farm system is strong enough to make them frisky at the Trade Deadline if need be,” Castrovince said.

Things are clearly trending in the right direction for Pittsburgh.

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