Even before the Pittsburgh Pirates played their finale Sunday, Ben Cherington was asked to point out the highlights and lowlights of a season that fell far short of expectations. Given that they already had clinched their sixth consecutive losing season,

Pirates GM Ben Cherington took most of the blame after another disappointing season but did give some of the coaching staff pink slips.

This is the first in a series of columns breaking down Pittsburgh Baseball Now‘s takeaways from another Pirates’ season gone by. The Pirates enter the 2024 offseason with most of last year’s hope, goodwill and building expectations siphoned away.

With the Pittsburgh Pirates in wild-card contention, general manager Ben Cherington became a buyer for the first time at the trade deadline and dealt for three players to make a push for the playoffs.