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The 2026 MLB season is right around the corner for the Pittsburgh Pirates, with opening day being March 26 against the New York Mets. There are a lot of things to be excited about going into the season as a Pirates fan, so here are my top three things that I am excited to see going into the new season. Konnor Griffin and Paul Skenes are two very obvious answers, and I am certainly excited to see both hit the field this season, but they will not be answers for this, let’s get started.
Seeing the new veteran free agents play
Pittsburgh has never been the most aggressive team throughout the years in free agency. They are a team that is notorious for not wanting to spend money and go out and get the big names in the market. Now it’s not like these guys are huge names that they got but, they have players who I think will help out struggling offense and that’s why I am excited.
In December, the Bucs traded for Brandon Lowe out of Tampa Bay. Last season, he hit 31 home runs and had 83 RBIs for the Rays. Pirates also acquired Ryan O’hearn who is a former All-Star, solid fielder and has the power. Their last big move was signing Marcell Ozuna to a one-year deal.
Those three guys will immediately be put into the starting lineup and could make a serious impact because of their power. Ozuna is coming off a down year for his standards, hitting for just 21 home runs, but we saw him hit 39 and 40 home runs the two seasons before that. The offense was one of the biggest flaws for this team last season, and I think adding three veteran bats who are all capable of hitting 30 or more home runs was really important and makes me really excited to watch this offense.
The starting pitching rotation
One thing everyone in Pittsburgh can agree on going into this season is that the starting pitching is going to be a bright spot for this team. Now yes, there is Paul Skenes, but this is a very deep pitching rotation outside of the reigning NL CY Young champion. In my opinion, Pittsburgh is going into the season with a top 10 starting pitching rotation and that is something to be excited about.
The rotation also consists of Mitch Keller, Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft, and Jose Urquidy. Jared Jones will also be a huge piece of the rotation when he comes back from his injury. This is such a young pitching group with a lot of potential, and having those guys mixed in with Skenes will be scary for opposing offenses this season.
Seeing a full crowd at PNC Park
The first two points play into this third one, because if the offense produces and the pitching does their thing, the Pirates will win games. The more games they win, the busier PNC Park will be. There is nothing better than a packed PNC Park. I mean, it is the prettiest stadium in the entire league after all.
The Pirates have some of the most loyal and passionate fans in the league, and if they get off to a great start and win games, PNC park will finally be packed again and there will be some crazy atmosphere. There hasn’t been a Buctober since 2015, and that was really the last time the atmosphere was truly wild. I think the Bucs this year have the team that can change that and get fans’ excitement levels back up.