The 2025 season has long been lost for the Pittsburgh Pirates. But that doesn't mean that the final stretch of the regular season is meaningless for them. In fact, the Pirates locker room cannot be any more fired up after their recently-concluded three-game set against the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, as they finished off a sweep on Thursday with a 5-3 win.

The Pirates have been bad all year, but as the old adage goes, it's not about how you start, it's how you finish. This Pittsburgh squad is playing with a chip on their shoulder, and with ace Paul Skenes on the mound on Thursday, there was plenty of reasons for them to be confident, especially when they were gunning for the sweep in front of their home crowd.

“We're playing good baseball. I don't know what confidence comes from, individually or team-wise. I think, to an extent, it comes from success. We've shown ourselves that we can do it. That gives us confidence. We got nothing to lose. It's time to go. We don't want to leave anything out there on the field. Just got to keep going,” Skenes told reporters following the Pirates' win, via SportsNet Pittsburgh.

Since coming out of the All-Star break, the Pirates have been playing winning baseball, having won 25 of their 44 games during that span. And this win over the Dodgers is simply a continuation of the much-improved level of play the whole roster, top to bottom, has displayed over the past month or so.

“That's the stuff you enjoy, going for a sweep at home against arguably the best team in baseball. Those are cool opportunities, you can't take them for granted,” Skenes added.

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Paul Skenes, Pirates are on an upward trajectory

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes (30) smiles as he walks off the field during the third inning at T-Mobile Park.
Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

Much has been made over the past few years of the Pirates ownership's propensity for cheapening out. But for all the flak they've caught, their record of 64-77 following their win over the Dodgers on Thursday could be a lot, lot worse.

Skenes, in particular, provides so much hope for the Pirates' future. Every five days, the Pirates have as good of a chance to win as any other team in baseball, with their 23-year-old ace showing no signs of slowing down in his sophomore campaign. After another excellent start on Thursday where he allowed zero runs across 6.0 innings of work while striking out eight, Skenes is now sporting an ERA of 1.98 on the year across 173.0 innings.