PITTSBURGH -- A year ago, Paul Skenes was on top of the world.
In his final start of 2025, also on Sept. 24, Skenes put the finishing touches on a National League Cy Young campaign, going four scoreless to keep his ERA under 2.00 for the year.
Fast forward a season later, on the same date, Skenes fought to keep his ERA under 4.00 in his final start. Skenes finished a bumpy 2026 on a positive note, allowing one run in 6 1/3 innings in the Pirates' 2-1 win over the Cardinals in Thursday afternoon's home finale at PNC Park.
Skenes logged a 3.82 ERA and 200 strikeouts in ‘26, becoming the first Pirates starter with consecutive seasons of 200-plus K’s since Bob Veale (1964-66).
“It was a grind. It was definitely a grind,” Skenes said. “I think it was a good year. I don’t think it was to the caliber of the last two years, but I’m not gonna sit around all offseason thinking about how bad this season was, because I just don’t think that’s true.
“I understand the standard that was set the last couple of years, but I think there was a lot of good, and stuff to get better at. Probably some low-hanging fruit and some other stuff to address in the offseason, but the thing that I’m happiest about is the 32 starts.”
St. Louis took the lead on Skenes in the top of the first with a solo homer by Alec Burleson. After Burleson’s shot, the Pirates (81-78) tied the game in the bottom half of the inning on a single by Brandon Lowe. A stalemate then took place throughout the afternoon.
Skenes mowed down Cardinals batters, recording eight strikeouts and allowing three hits and two walks. He induced soft contact, and even played some defense to turn a 1-6-3 double play to end the fifth inning.
As he trotted out for the sixth with 81 pitches, Skenes retired the side in order. He then came out for the seventh at 90 pitches, and one strikeout away from 200. Skenes told manager Don Kelly that he felt the best he has in a long time, but Kelly didn’t want him over 100 pitches. Skenes took down Leo Bernal for his 200th K before being lifted in favor of reliever Yohan Ramirez with the game knotted at 1.
Skenes has been fairly open about the struggles in 2026 compared to his first two seasons, as his ERA nearly doubled with a dip in velocity. He was proud of grinding out 32 starts, and he learned plenty about his controllables going forward.
“We've talked a lot about nobody expects more from Paul Skenes than Paul Skenes expects from himself,” Kelly said. “I know what everybody sees every day is the same guy. Comes in, focused, works his butt off. And it was tough for him going through that. I think any time any of us go through anything that's tough in life, we learn from it, grow from it, and there's no doubt that Paul is going to as well. He has this year. I think today was evidence of that, just finishing on such a strong note, throwing the ball extremely well. Excited for him this offseason and excited for what he's gonna be next year.”
Skenes analyzed the idea of an 11-month season, saying he’ll begin throwing again likely near the end of October. A mental breather is needed, sometimes even more than a physical one.
The road was bumpy. Skenes has heard the clichés of being better off after facing adversity. He definitely doesn’t think it will hurt. But he won’t know if 2026 is an anomaly until he’s back on the mound in an MLB game once again.
“I think my best baseball is ahead of me and I think our best baseball is ahead of us,” Skenes said. “Got a long offseason and have the chance to sit down and look at all the stuff. It’s really easy to get emotional and kind of let emotions bleed into some stuff during the season. To be able to sit back and kinda look at the big picture rather than the day-to-day, short-term view of it that takes over in-season, that will be good.”