It’s a little hard to believe, but we are now halfway through the 2020s, and a lot has happened in the world of sports during the past five years. When it comes to Pittsburgh, the city is at somewhat of a low point that it hasn’t seen in decades. In most eras, at least one or two Pittsburgh teams consistently competed for championships, but the city hasn’t seen that level of success in quite some time.
Pittsburgh hasn’t experienced this sort of lull since the mid to late 1980s, when the Steelers and Pirates dynasties faded and the Penguins hadn’t yet found their footing as a franchise. Right now, the city is caught in a similar situation. The Steelers are stuck in a cycle of mediocrity, the Pirates have potential but have failed to capitalize and the Penguins are going through a rough rebuild.
This doesn’t mean the city is out of the game entirely. So far this decade, all three teams, plus the Pitt Panthers, have provided fans of the City’s sports with moments that will last them a lifetime. Some are sentimental, some are iconic and all of them show that Pittsburgh sports aren’t going away anytime soon.
No. 5 — Kenny Pickett’s consecutive comebacks
In his 2022 rookie season, former Pitt star and then Steeler Kenny Pickett, made some impressive strides to end the year. Throughout the season and leading up after he was drafted, many in the city, and certainly those who root for the Panthers and Steelers, believed that he was the guy.
Before he left for Philly, I and many others thought we had something special. In an emotional Christmas Eve game celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception, and just a few days after the passing of its star, Franco Harris, Pickett led a last-minute drive against the Las Vegas Raiders. Pickett would follow that up with another last-minute drive against the archrival Baltimore Ravens to pull off the victory.
The effect of hindsight pulls this back a couple of spots, but it was an incredible moment regardless.
No. 4 — Cutch returns
After a five-year journey away from the team, the Pittsburgh Pirates resigned former MVP Andrew McCutchen. This sentimental moment gave baseball fans, and certainly fans of the Pirates, chills.
In front of a packed PNC park, dressed in all black, Cutch took the field against the Chicago White Sox and was given a standing ovation by the Bucco faithful. As chants of “MVP” and “Let’s go Cutch” rang out through the ballpark, you can’t help but be filled with memories of the success the Pirates had the decade before.
No. 3 — The fake slide
The 2021 campaign was a magical ride for fans of Pitt Football. Fifth-year senior quarterback Kenny Pickett returned for one last chance and more than delivered. It all culminated with an iconic moment in Pitt athletics, which was capsulated in the five-word exclamation, “Oh, he faked the slide!”
The Panthers would go on to roll Wake Forest 45-21 and capture their first ACC Championship and their best record since 1981.
No. 2 — Summer of Skenes
In 2023, the Pirates took a gamble with the first overall pick and selected LSU pitcher Paul Skenes. Skenes was one of the most highly recruited pitching prospects Baseball had seen in a decade and made many fans hopeful for the future in Pittsburgh.
After one year in the Pirates’ farm system, Skenes made his debut against the division rival Chicago Cubs. Since then, he’s exceeded every single expectation and galvanized a once-dormant fanbase.
By the time the season ended, Skenes finished his rookie campaign with 170 strikeouts and an earned run average of 1.70. Skenes became only the fifth rookie in MLB history to start in the all-star game, in addition to finishing on the All-MLB team, winning Rookie of the Year and finishing third in the Cy Young Award race.
No.1 — The Pitt-6
In 2022, The Pitt Panthers and the West Virginia Mountaineers met once again in Pittsburgh, after their 11-year hiatus in the Backyard Brawl. Over 70,000 people packed into Acrisure Stadium to watch — the most attendees at any event in the city of Pittsburgh at the time.
The game more than delivered, with the two bitter rivals exchanging scores and haymakers throughout. The Panthers tied the game at 31 with just three minutes remaining. Pitt cornerback MJ Devonshire then intercepted a pass from JT Daniels and returned it for a touchdown, igniting the record-setting crowd. The Panthers would hold off the Mountaineer drive to win 38-31 as Devonshire etched his name into Backyard Brawl and Pittsburgh history.
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