On the heels of going 76-86 for a second straight year, what the Pittsburgh Pirates did to improve heading into the 2025 season was among their most pressing questions this offseason.

To date, there haven’t been many significant additions for Pittsburgh outside of trading to left-handed hitting first baseman Spencer Horwitz, but if you were to ask Pirates ace Paul Skenes, they may already have enough to take the next step. Skenes, the reigning National League Rookie of the Year, believes the Pirates owe a turnaround and reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2015 not just to the fans, but people throughout the organization.

“I think we have a responsibility to the city to do that,” Skenes said. “And within the organization, too. There are a lot of people who put a lot of work into it. We’ve got really good people within this organization, within player development, within the front office, stuff like that. I think we owe it to them. You can say whatever you want about the acquisitions and all that, but we need to play better, too.”

Improving the offense, bullpen, and one-run games will be imperative to the Pirates’ success in 2025. Last season, Pittsburgh was 21st in runs per game and its bullpen had the fourth-highest ERA in baseball. The Pirates were also 25-26 in one-run ballgames.

All three of those areas were at the forefront of a collapse that saw Pittsburgh go 8-19, including a 10-game losing streak, and fall out of the playoff race. In August, Pittsburgh was 2-8 in one-run games and it was held to 3 runs or fewer in nine of its 19 losses.

Improving in such games is among the focal points for Skenes heading into the 2025 season, and he noted the Pirates’ struggles against teams that made the playoffs as part of why they weren’t able to get over the hump last season.

“I don’t know what the number of games was – that honestly might be something I look into over the course of the next month, going into spring training – we should have won [and] we didn’t,” Skenes said. “It was more than 10 last year, I know that. You look at the Dodgers, Tigers, Guardians, Yankees, Brewers – teams that were in the playoffs and we were watching from home because we pissed those games away. We’re going to have our opportunities to win, so we have to take advantage of it. It’s not a complicated thing. It’s simple, but it’s very difficult to do.”

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Cities and organizations throughout the Pittsburgh area are going to be opening warming centers as the region is bracing for the arrival of extremely cold temperatures over the next several days.

The National Weather Service has issued a cold weather advisory that is in place through 1 p.m. on Wednesday.  Temperatures are expected to be below zero degrees at times with extremely cold wind chills as low as 20 below zero being possible. 

Parts of the area may not see temperatures rise above the 10 degree mark for three straight days. 

The extreme cold can have severely harmful effects on the body, including hypothermia and frostbite. The latter can lead to irreversible damage, including losing fingers, ears, and hands. To help avoid that, you should dress to protect yourself when outside in extreme cold temperatures. 

Pittsburgh CitiParks activating warming centers 

Starting Monday, six facilities will be open as warming shelters. The centers will be open Monday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and will be open Tuesday and Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. 

Only the centers in Beechview, Brighton Heights, Greenfield, Homewood, Sheraden, and on the South Side will be open Monday due to the Martin Luther King Day holiday. The remaining centers (Ammon, Arlington, Brookline, Jefferson, Magee, Ormsby, Paulson, Warrington, and West Penn) will be open on Tuesday. 

Shaler North Hills Library opening as a warming center

The Shaler Township Police Department says the library along Mt. Royal Boulevard will be open as a warming center on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

The facility will be open each day from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Pitcairn fire station opening as warming shelter

The Pitcairn Police Department says the fire department’s station along South Center Avenue is being opened as a warming shelter starting at 8 a.m. on Monday.  The center will remain open through 12 p.m. on Wednesday.

Free coffee will be provided at the center and the facility will be monitored by the police department and the fire department. 

Charleroi Fire Department opening as warming center

The fire department located along Fallowfield Avenue says it will be open as a warming center starting at 8 a.m. on Monday. 

Anyone needing more information is asked to call 724-483-7311 or message the department on Facebook. 

Washington Salvation Army opening warming center

The Salvation Army in Washington says a warming center will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at the Worship and Service Center along East Maiden Street.

The Salvation Army says they will have hot and cold drinks and snacks along with a place to stay out of the cold.

Several warming centers opening in Beaver County