The Pittsburgh Pirates are playing their last home game of the season against the St. Louis Cardinals, and Paul Skenes walked off with a standing ovation. The star pitcher was pulled in the seventh inning after his 200th strikeout of the season, and the crowd made sure to show him love.
Paul Skenes gets pulled after reaching 200 strikeouts in his final start of the season and the Pirates fans show him some love pic.twitter.com/VR4FV9peHQ
— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 24, 2026
It hasn't been the best season for Skenes, as his velocity took a dip and he couldn't get it back to his standard. In his first two seasons in the league, his average fastball velocity was at 98.9 and 98.2 mph. This season, it's dropped to around 96 mph.
Article Continues BelowWhen Skenes opened up about where the struggles may have come from, he brought up the World Baseball Classic and noted that it may have been the root of some of the problems.
“There are a lot of other factors, so I don’t want to put everything on that. But I feel like that was kind of the root of it a little bit,” Skenes said via Colin Beazley of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Skenes won't have to worry about the WBC this offseason, and he'll have plenty of time to get back on track before the start of next season. That's what the Pirates are hoping for as they look to be in a position to compete next season, as things didn't go their way this year.
If Skenes can get to the level he was at the past two seasons, the Pirates shouldn't have anything to worry about, and it looks like he's going to do everything in his power to bounce back.