The Major League Baseball postseason begins today with the Wild Card Round, featuring two games in the National League and two in the American league. The season is over for the Pirates, but they are already working on 2026, announcing yesterday that manager Donnie Kelly will be back for his first full season at the helm and later announcing that general manager Ben Cherington will also return.
Kelly took over in the dugout on May 8th when Derek Shelton was dismissed. He inherited a 12-26 team and guided them to a 71-91 finish, winning 59 games and losing 65. The Pirates were 32-33 after the All-Star break, and at the media conference yesterday, Kelly said that was when he began to really settle in as the Pirates’ manager.
Kelly is a native Pittsburgher and made a promise to his fellow Pirates fans.
Kelly says he knows Pirates fans will come back to PNC Park as long as they are seeing the Bucs doing what it takes to win.
Kelly says there really is only one measure of success…winning.
Cherington says Kelly is the right man for the job.
Cherington says watching Kelly manage the Pirates on the field and in the clubhouse convinced him that he’s the guy to bring home a winner.
Cherington revealed that he’s been told he will be back next season and team president Travis Williams later confirmed that. Saying it’s not a question of committing the resources necessary to build a winning roster, Williams emphasized, “We’re looking in 2026 to make the playoffs. Period. Full stop.”
PLAYOFFS
The 2025 playoff begins today with the best-of-three Wild Card Round, starting with the Tigers visiting the Guardians in Cleveland, with the first pitch at 1:08. The Padres travel to Wrigley Field to face the Cubs at 3:08, followed by the Yankees and Red Sox at 6:08 and the Reds at the Dodgers at 9:08.
MANAGERS START FALLING
The Texas Rangers shocked baseball yesterday by firing manager Bruce Bochy just two years after he won the World Series. Bochy ranks sixth all-time with 2,252 MLB wins and four World Series titles.
The San Francisco Giants fired three-time Manager of the Year Bob Melvin after two seasons.
Like the Rangers, the Giants were 81-81 this season.
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