Once upon October, the North Shore was a parade route, not a reminder of what’s missing. Instead, PNC Park is quiet again — another year where the gates close before the leaves turn. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ 71-91 finish didn’t just miss the mark; it extended a full decade without postseason baseball, a dispiriting run that’s turned patience into apathy for large parts of the fanbase. That’s the larger embarrassment here: a franchise with a jewel of a ballpark and a passionate market that keeps being asked to wait.
What makes 2025 sting even more is how close the bones of a contender already are.