Pirates will remember final series as they set sights towards the future

As the Pirates complete their end of season exit interviews, Derek Shelton had a couple points that he told his players. The team has to continue to get better. They did get better this year. There's more room to grow.

And then, one more thing.

"A lot of the messaging for this was, every single time you work out this winter, every single time you take ground balls or you hit or you lift or when you’re getting up to do something, think about the fact that we watched two teams celebrate and that’s where we want to be,” Shelton said.

The Pirates wrapped up their 2023 season on a positive note. Miguel Andújar and Jack Suwinski roped back-to-back RBI doubles in the bottom of the eighth, David Bednar picked up his 39th save of the year and the Pirates closed the campaign with a 3-0 win over the Marlins Sunday at PNC Park. That concludes their season with a 76-86 record, a 14-win improvement from a 100-loss 2022.

A similar win improvement in 2024 would get the Pirates into the playoffs. That's the goal for next year. They finished with a 6-6 record against four teams competing for a wild card down the stretch (the Cubs, Reds, Phillies and Marlins). They finished the year 35-32 over their last 67 games, a .522 winning percentage, which is the same as the Marlins this year.

It's a step in the right direction. No one is satisfied with just that, though. Those final series, watching the Phillies and Marlins embrace and dog pile each other in jubilation, is what they want, what they'll remember.

"I think especially the one on your home field," Bednar said, referencing the Marlins punching their playoff ticket Saturday night. "It's something that that's where we want to be and the position that we want to be in. So, without doubt, I think that's one of the things going forward this offseason, preparing and just keep in the back of our minds how good it was to be on the winning side of things and kind of carry that throughout the year."

And this group truly believes they can take that step next season. Take it away, faces of the franchise:

"We know we can be in the playoffs," Ke'Bryan Hayes said. "We know we have the guys to do it. We're one little notch away. We showed what we can do the first month in the season. I know guys are looking forward to next year. We already started talking about it, even though we were out of it. We've already started talking about doing what those teams are doing to clinch, to go into the playoffs. We're going to be there next year."

"I'm very excited about next year," Bryan Reynolds. "I think that gets said every year, but I think this year has more weight with what we've done the last month or whatever it's been. We played well in the beginning, we hit a lull in the middle and had a bunch of young guys come up and we've progressively gotten better. So, I think good things are definitely coming here next year."

"It shows every single person who’s in this room that we’re there," Mitch Keller said. "We can do it. There have been conversations in the dugout like, ‘Dang, this is a playoff team that we’re playing against, and we’re right there with them, if not better than them.’ We’re playing better baseball, pitching, hitting, we’re putting it all together. So, absolutely, I think it gives everybody in here the idea that we’re going to make it but the expectation that we’re going to make it next year. That’s kind of what’s changed. We’re fully expecting to be there next year."

Yeah, right now, it's just words. But this September was unlike the Septembers of the past few seasons. The Pirates held their own against good teams. They continued to play hard. Their record during those last two months -- after selling at the trade deadline and leaning into a youth movement -- is evidence of that.

It's why they were able to significantly bridge the gap between 2022's results and their playoff dreams in 2024. Of course, that first double-digit win improvement is easier than the second.

"It doesn't get easier," Ben Cherington said on his 93.7 The Fan radio show. "It gets harder as you get more competitive and get closer to where we want to be, which is to be one of those teams getting ready to play in October. That's 100%, solely our focus going into the offseason ... To be one of those teams."

But it is 14 wins. And with the right goals in place for next year, those wins matter.

"Fourteen more wins than last year is really important. And we still have steps to go," Shelton said. "It’s realizing for a lot of these guys that it’s a long season. When you go through stretches, you have to be able to pull yourself out. I’m really proud, especially of the group we had the last two months, with a lot of young players, of the amount of improvement we’ve made. Ben’s talked consistently about, ‘We have to get better.’ This year we got better."