PITTSBURGH — Paul Skenes is not thinking about the National League Cy Young speech he’ll likely be asked to make the week before Thanksgiving. The Pittsburgh Pirates ace isn’t thinking about the elite company he has kept through his first two big league seasons, either.

Skenes, 23, doesn’t pitch to win awards, but games. And neither Skenes — though largely through no fault of his own — nor his team has done enough of that to avoid another last-place finish in the NL Central.

So, no matter how much Skenes believes he has grown professionally during his first full season in the majors — and he’s a near lock to become the first player in four decades to win the Rookie of the Year one year and the Cy Young the next — he’s more concerned about how the Pirates respond over the winter.

“This is a wasted year if we don’t learn what we need to do and we don’t know why we didn’t go out there and do what we wanted to do,” Skenes said Friday. “If those things happen, then it’s a wasted year, in my opinion. I don’t think that’s happening. I think — individually, as a team and as an organization — we know the adjustments we need to make. Now, we’ve just got to do them.”

A season that began with the club hoping to return to contention for the first time in a decade quickly disintegrated during a nightmarish 12-26 start that led to manager Derek Shelton’s firing. Though Don Kelly steadied things after replacing Shelton, and Skenes has been the most dominant pitcher in the game, Pittsburgh entered its final home series against the Athletics this weekend having dropped 11 of 12 to assure the franchise’s 29th losing season since 1992.

The worst offense in the majors — Pittsburgh is last or near last in every major offensive category, from runs to home runs to OPS — has also put Skenes on the cusp of making some unwanted history. Despite an MLB-leading 2.03 ERA to go with 209 strikeouts and a .199 batting average against, Skenes holds a 10-10 record heading into what will likely be his final start of the season early next week in Cincinnati.

No starting pitcher has captured the Cy Young with a record of .500 or worse. Skenes is a heavy favorite to hear his name called when the award is announced Nov. 20. By then, Skenes will already have begun his preparations for 2026. He’s hoping and expecting those around him to do the same.

“There’s room to get better in this locker room,” he said. “We just need to do it. I’m sure we’ll get some pieces and do all that, but my mind right now is ‘What can we do within the locker room to get better, now and for next year?’ There’s urgency to it, and we need to understand that and act on it.”

To Skenes, whose combination of talent, work ethic and charisma has already thrust him into a leadership role despite having been in the majors for 16 months, that means being willing to challenge yourself in new ways.

“It’s going to take a lot of guys taking a look in the mirror, figuring out what it is that they need to get better at, and making sacrifices to do that,” he said.

Kelly, who seems likely to stay as manager for his hometown team in 2026, credited Skenes for being unafraid to have “tough conversations” despite his relative inexperience. Being willing to constantly walk the walk helps.

“[It’s] just the way that he leads himself first, and then carries himself that way, works like that, dominates on the field, it gives him that voice to be able to have those conversations with other people,” Kelly said.

Pittsburgh figures to have one of the better rotations in baseball next year behind Skenes, Mitch Keller and 23-year-old Bubba Chandler. There is reason for optimism, but Skenes pointed out that the team thought the same thing at the end of last season, and yet the Pirates are playing out the string in late September again.

Pittsburgh’s quickest path to contention might be parting with some of its young pitching talent if it wants to upgrade an offense that has been woeful regardless of who is starting, even Skenes, who has an ERA of 1.74 in his 11 no-decisions.

Though Skenes said “the book is out on him” now, he has been a step — and in some cases two or three — ahead of most opponents. He believes he’s a more complete pitcher than a year ago, and he credited the Pirates for helping him successfully navigate 31 starts and 181⅔ innings and counting.

Amid the losing, Skenes has tried to remain upbeat. He has also been firm in his commitment to the team and the community. He spent a portion of a rare Thursday off day by delivering meals to firefighters and first responders at a station in the suburbs, joking that it was kind of a bummer he didn’t get to blare the horn on one of the trucks.

Though he remains under team control for the rest of the decade, general manager Ben Cherington has faced questions on whether Skenes — who will likely command record-setting numbers once he becomes eligible for salary arbitration should he stay on his current path — could be traded.

The club remains firm in its commitment to him, though there haven’t been talks about an extension, mostly because it’s not something Skenes wants to discuss during the season. That might come up over the winter, though Skenes will be more focused on shoring up what few holes he might have in his game, even if he doesn’t know what they might be.

“I’ll figure it out,” he said. “I’ll figure out exactly what it is. I know I can get better. Just got to figure out what it is.”

HOUSTON — Seattle right-hander Bryan Woo exited the Mariners’ 4-0 win over the Houston Astros because of pectoral tightness after throwing a couple of warmup pitches in the sixth inning Friday night.

Shortly after Woo started warming up on the mound for the sixth, a team trainer and coaches came out. After a brief discussion, the All-Star exited with the trainer, and Eduard Bazardo replaced him.

“He had a little pec tightness,” manager Dan Wilson said after the Mariners’ victory, which vaulted them into first place in the American League West. “He kind of gave us a heads-up and that was why Bazardo was getting loose. We will know more tomorrow. Likely an MRI, and we will get to know a little bit more tomorrow, but that’s all we know at this point.”

Woo said he “felt a little tightness” but came out to try to throw in the sixth.

“It didn’t feel like it was best for the team,” he said. “I felt like Baz was ready to go. We’ll get some stuff done [Saturday], and I’ll know more. I really don’t know much.”

Woo said he had “felt great all game,” and that the tightness happened in the fifth.

“I just felt it at the end,” he said. “I thought it was smart to not try to push it.”

Wilson said when Woo returned to the dugout after the fifth, he told the coaching staff about the issue.

“So, that’s why we were semi-prepared. He was going to give it a shot and still felt tight, so we went to Bazardo at that point,” Wilson said.

Woo cruised through five innings, yielding one hit and one walk while striking out seven in the opener of a pivotal series between the rivals, who began the night tied atop the division.

“It’s a big series, obviously, but I tried to treat it like any other game,” Woo said. “Obviously, take care of business and come out with some urgency, but don’t try to do anything more. Just do your job.”

Woo got the win, improving to 15-7. He threw 67 pitches and lowered his ERA to 2.94. Carlos Correa got the only hit off Woo, a double with one out in the fourth.

Woo has 198 strikeouts this season.

“I think you’re obviously concerned in some ways, but in other ways, Bryan’s a tough cookie,” Wilson said. “It was smart that he let us know. There was no reason to push it. We will just find out more [Saturday].”

NEW YORK — When New York Mets right-hander Kodai Senga agreed to be optioned to Triple-A earlier this month to work on his mechanics, the ideal scenario was that he would rejoin the club soon after he was eligible to return on Sept. 20. But that isn’t happening.

Senga told club officials on a call Friday that, despite being healthy, he is not ready to pitch at the major league level after surrendering four runs over 3⅔ innings for Triple-A Syracuse on Thursday. With the minor league season concluding Sunday, the plan instead is to have Senga face hitters in a simulated setting next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said the team is determining where that will take place because Senga is not allowed to be with the major league team while optioned.

Senga’s first start since volunteering for the demotion was encouraging: six innings, three hits, one run and eight strikeouts with no walks. But Thursday’s start represented a significant regression for the reset.

“Stuff-wise, [he] was down,” Mendoza said of Senga’s outing on Thursday. “Whether it was the velo, execution, the secondary pitches were not sharp. So that’s the report that I got. And then, watching film, you could see it. And that’s probably one of the reasons he’s asking for one more time to face hitters, just to kind of continue to work through those issues. So that’s what we saw.”

This isn’t the first time a healthy Senga, 32, has informed the Mets that he is not comfortable pitching in major league games while healthy. Last season, Senga cited mechanical problems multiple times as the reason for delaying his season debut until late July after a shoulder injury had healed. He then strained his left calf in his first start and didn’t pitch in the regular season again.

This year, Senga was one of the best pitchers in the majors until he strained his hamstring on June 12. He landed on the injured list with a 1.47 ERA in 73⅔ innings across 13 starts. The Mets had the best record in the majors. Then he missed nearly a month and returned to toss four scoreless innings on July 11. From there, Senga recorded a 6.56 ERA in 35⅔ innings across eight starts. He pitched into the sixth inning once and completed five innings three times. The Mets, coincidentally, floundered.

With the Mets no longer able to afford short, ineffective starts as they dropped in the standings, they asked Senga to go to Triple-A. All along, he has told the Mets he is healthy. The struggles continue to perplex the team.

“We’re asking the same thing,” Mendoza said when asked why Senga hasn’t returned to his early-season form. “Healthwise, he’s 100 percent fine. There’s no issues with him. He’s not favoring anything. We just haven’t been able to help him, whether it’s mechanicals or execution, whatever the case might be here. But we haven’t gotten there yet. So this is where we’re at. But physically he’s fine.”

Senga’s troubles combined with Sean Manaea‘s ineffectiveness and injuries to other starting pitchers have forced the Mets to thrust three rookies — Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat — into the rotation in the heat of a playoff race.

McLean was called up first to make his major league debut on Aug. 16. Tong followed and then Sproat. McLean has shined in six starts, registering a 1.19 ERA with 40 strikeouts over 37⅔ innings, and is expected to start in the three-game wild-card series should the Mets reach the postseason. Tong’s and Sproat’s roles are less certain.

Senga’s status is even more unclear. Mendoza said Senga could “maybe” be in consideration to return to pitch in the Mets’ season-ending series against the Miami Marlins, but that would require multiple unknown steps. A year ago, the Mets aggressively made room for Senga in the postseason despite him not pitching in more than two months. Senga wound up opening two games and coming out of the bullpen in a third, totaling five innings over the three appearances. This year could be different.

“We gotta get there first,” Mendoza said. “We’re having those conversations, but it’s too early to tell.”