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Barring a minor miracle, the Pittsburgh Pirates are out of the running for a postseason spot, but the last couple months of the 2025 season should prove to be quite meaningful and impactful for the organization nonetheless.
There will almost certainly be significant player movement by the Pirates before next Thursday's trade deadline, and several key players are likely to be wearing different uniforms when the calendar flips to August.
One of the Pirates' main priorities will be to fortify a batting attack that has been inconsistent at best and languid at worst.
And manager Don Kelly will be bidding to have the interim tag removed from his title.
After a 12-26 start this season that prompted the Pirates to show former manager Derek Shelton the door on May 8, the Pirates have been largely respectable under Kelly, a Pittsburgh native who was the Buccos' bench coach prior to Shelton's dismissal.
If Kelly can keep the Pirates from going completely off the rails through the last two months of this season and maintain a steady hand with a roster that will be undergoing noteworthy changes, there will be a strong argument for keeping him at the team's helm in 2026 and perhaps beyond.
The Pirates have played better under Kelly, particularly at home, where they now have a winning record, and he's instilled a healthy sense of accountability among the team's younger players -- notably flighty outfielder Oneil Cruz, who has superstar-type talent but has appeared to be out to lunch on some occasions during games.
Kelly knows the Pirates organization, is familiar with the operation, and the players are familiar and comfortable with him.
He had a long coaching history in the majors before his promotion to the manager's job this season, and he brings sound baseball knowledge to the position.
The Pirates will have plenty of questions to answer this offseason, but being able to render a clear-cut verdict on Kelly could take one big item off their plate.
n The Pirates' Hall of Fame will add three new members on Aug. 21, when Al Oliver, Kiki Cuyler and Vernon Law will be inducted.
Cuyler, who died at the age of 51 in 1950, enjoyed a fabulous 18-year playing career as a major league outfielder -- the first seven seasons of which were in Pittsburgh -- amassing 2,299 career hits, a .321 career batting average, 128 home runs and 1,065 RBIs.
A speedster who led the major leagues in stolen bases four times, Cuyler had the game-winning hit for the Pirates in the 1925 World Series and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. in 1968. After his playing career ended, he served tenures as a minor league manager and a Major League Baseball coach.
Law -- a devoutly religious man who went by the nickname of "Deacon" and served in that role in his Mormon church -- pitched 16 seasons in the major leagues, all with the Pirates. The right-hander posted a 162-147 career record with a 3.77 earned run average and 1,092 strikeouts in 364 career starts.
Now 95 years of age, Law won 20 games for the 1960 World Champion Pirates, posting a 3.08 ERA and 120 strikeouts in 35 starts that season.
Oliver, a first baseman-outfielder who went by the nickname of "Scoop," enjoyed an 18-year Major League Baseball career -- the first 10 seasons of which were spent with the Pirates. He amassed 2,743 career hits, a .303 batting average, 219 home runs and 1,326 RBIs.
A seven-time MLB All-Star selection, Oliver was a key member of the 1971 World Champion Pirates and won a National League batting title in 1982, when he carded a .331 average as a player with the now defunct Montreal Expos.
Overshadowed by Baseball Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Dave Parker during most or all of his time in Pittsburgh, Oliver, now 78, became a candidate for Cooperstown himself but was never inducted despite boasting statistics in many categories that were better than some other players who were inducted.
Cuyler, Law and Oliver will also be honored by the Pirates on the field at PNC Park prior to the Bucs' Aug. 22 game with the Colorado Rockies.
n While Oliver was an outstanding player in his own right, because he was obscured by star power all around him during his days in Pittsburgh, he never got the national recognition that he truly deserved.
When Oliver made an appearance as a guest speaker at the AAABA National Tournament's annual pre-tourney dinner banquet in Johnstown several years ago, he did so with a good friend who was championing a committee to get Oliver inducted into the Hall of Fame.
As the years go by, it seems less and less likely that Oliver will get the Cooperstown induction that he truly deserved.
n Sometimes, it's all about timing. Andrew McCutchen has been the face of the Pirates' franchise this century, and now in his 18th big-league season, McCutchen will be a Cooperstown hopeful upon his retirement from the game, whenever he decides that will take place.
McCutchen won the NL's Most Valuable Player award in 2013, when the Pirates ended a 20-year playoff drought and qualified for the NL playoffs as a Wild Card team that beat the Cincinnati Reds in the special one-game playoff and pushed the St. Louis Cardinals to five games in the NL Division Series. McCutchen also led the Bucs to Wild Card playoff game appearances in 2014 and 2015.
McCutchen, who will celebrate his 39th birthday in October, has played for the Pirates, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees during his fabulous major league career, amassing more than 2,200 major league hits and more than 300 home runs. He is third on the Pirates' all-time franchise home run list, surpassing Clemente earlier this season and trailing only Stargell and another Hall of Famer, Ralph Kiner.
McCutchen's visibility, as well as his statistical numbers, could well enable him to clear the Cooperstown eye test hurdle that Oliver, playing with several Hall of Famers, could never quite surmount.
John Hartsock can be reached at jhartsock@altoonamirror.com.