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Baseball
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Baseball
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The Pirates entered 2026 with a clearly stated goal: make the playoffs. Now they are officially eliminated, and Alex Stumpf looks at why this season feels like such a missed opportunity.
From the Marcell Ozuna signing and a bullpen that went too long without help to the handling of Carmen Mlodzinski and the Jacob Gonzalez/Brandon Eisert trade, many of the mistakes that hurt Pittsburgh were preventable. The Pirates had enough talent to stay in the race. They simply did not do enough with it.
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Listen guide
"The Pirates Missed the Playoffs. The Worst Part? It Was Preventable" is an episode of North Shore Nine: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast. Runtime 16 min. Published September 21, 2026. Hit play above to stream it here, or open the free Spot Sports app for background play and offline downloads.
