PITTSBURGH — The past few weeks have been spent reviewing, debating and growing frustrated over what negatively affected the Pirates in 2024 — the late-season collapse, offensive struggles, developmental strides not taken and so much more.

For the most sadistic, perhaps you've shifted your attention west, to fellow Rust Belt cities like Cleveland and Detroit, the Guardians and the Tigers going the distance in their American League Division Series and showing us how this process should look.

It's frustrating, sure.

But it's also enlightening if you examine what has happened to these two teams and what it takes to drive success in markets more similar to Pittsburgh than New York, Chicago or Los Angeles.

Disclaimer: None of the following is meant to excuse the Pirates. They should be better and further along since cleaning house after the 2019 season. It's to merely to demonstrate that winning here is attainable — and you don't have to look far for proof.

The second half

When the MLB trade deadline arrived at the end of July, the Tigers were struggling at 52-57. They actually wound up as sellers, trading starting pitcher Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers, outfielder Mark Canha to the Giants and reliever Andrew Chafin and catcher Carson Kelly to the Rangers.

Then a funny thing happen: Detroit actually got hot.

Like, really hot.

Sitting at 55-63 on Aug. 10, having dropped three in a row, six of nine in August and 13-of-19 overall, the Tigers began to figure it out. They won a one-run game to finish a series in San Francisco. They won five of six on the next homestand and rode that momentum to a terrific finish.

From Aug. 11 through the end of the regular season, Detroit went an MLB-best 31-13, while Tigers pitchers posted a 2.72 ERA.

The Pirates went 20-26 during that time, which looks better than it should because it only accounts for part of a 10-game losing streak. Just four MLB teams had a worse ERA (4.71) than the Pirates during that span.

Strength not a strength

OK, don't suffer a gigantic collapse. Thanks for the tip, Mackey. Don't worry. There's more.

The area I'd like to focus on with Cleveland involves the bullpen and building a shutdown back end. Tim Herrin, Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis and closer Emmanuel Clase form the top four. Overall that group pitched to a 2.57 ERA, fourth-best for any MLB bullpen since 1995.

This matters because it's what the Pirates tried to do — win games with their bullpen by paying Aroldis Chapman a bunch of money and using him alongside David Bednar, Colin Holderman, Ryan Borucki and Carmen Mlodzinski.

We know how that worked out. Dennis Santana was their best reliever and the strategy flopped, with the group posting the fourth-worst ERA (4.49) in baseball. Detroit might not have been Cleveland, but it was still very good, its 3.55 ERA ranking fifth.

Grow it at home

Look at both rosters, and there's something that becomes hugely necessary when it comes to teams that don't break banks the way the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, Red Sox or Cubs often do: Their talent is very much homegrown.

Nobody has more homegrown players among MLB playoff teams than the Tigers (16). The Guardians are second with 15. Meanwhile, only the Astros have more homegrown WAR accumulated than Cleveland (25.4), which is also second in drafted players (11) and international WAR (9.6).

The point: Cleveland knows how to obtain talent from different areas, something with which the Pirates have certainly struggled.

Jose Ramirez was a $50,000 signing out of the Dominican Republic. He now makes $17 million and has been worth at least 6.0 fWAR five times in the last seven full seasons. The Pirates don't have someone in the same solar system.

Clase was a trade acquisition, Gaddis a fifth-round pick and Smith an undrafted free agent. It's incredible GM'ing and the exact way a small-market franchise should operate. But the Guardians certainly aren't alone.

Pulling the right strings

The Tigers' improbable run has a cool local hook in general manager Jeff Greenberg, an Upper St. Clair product who actually interned with the Pirates in 2006. (Fun trivia: Greenberg and Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns interned for the Pirates that same year.)

Along with Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris — the two of them meeting with the Cubs and reconvening in Motown (after Greenberg spent a short time working for the Blackhawks) — it's been quite a success story.

And it has been driven by position players who have figured it out at the major league level, specifically outfielders Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter, first baseman Spencer Torkelson and infielder Colt Keith.

Really twisting the knife for Pirates fans: Torkelson, after experiencing big-league struggles, went to Triple-A and returned to put up a .781 OPS over his final 38 games.

Most notable, of course, has been on the pitching side, where Tarik Skubal should win the American League Cy Young Award after leading the league in wins (18), ERA (2.39) and strikeouts (228), among other things.

Detroit has had several top-100 prospects and has actually had them pan out. Furthermore, the Tigers have MLB Pipeline's current top pitching prospect (Jackson Jobe) and the fifth-ranked position player in outfielder Max Clark.

Along with infielder Jace Jung (No. 62 MLB Pipeline) and shortstop Trey Sweeney, who was added in the Flaherty deal, the Tigers are now relying on basically a half-dozen former top-100 prospects drafted since 2020 who are now contributing at the major league level.

Must be nice.

Not just financial

The narrative around the Pirates will almost always be financial, but it doesn't address every shortcoming between the current iteration of the team and its Rust Belt neighbors.

Detroit's ALDS roster hilariously totaled just $18.8 million, a quirk considering Javy Baez ($25 million) is injured; Kenta Maeda ($14 million) was left off the postseason roster; Miguel Cabrera ($8 million) retired; Flaherty ($9.3 million), Canha ($7.7 million) and Chafin ($2.9 million) were traded; and Shelby Miller ($3.1 million) was released.

Four Astros made more than the Tigers entire roster. As did 62 throughout MLB.

The point: You don't have to spend if you can identify, acquire, develop and deploy the right players.

On opening day, the Tigers had the 24th-highest payroll in MLB. The Guardians weren't far behind at No. 28, a spot ahead of the Pirates. But as we've seen with five of the bottom 10 reaching the postseason — the Royals, Brewers, Tigers, Orioles and Guardians — spending a ton isn't always a requisite.

It's more what these teams did so well this season, stuff that produced a captivating ALDS and things the Pirates must do better heading into 2025.

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