During a sunny afternoon at PNC Park, the Pittsburgh Pirates took the series from the Seattle Mariners, capping off the three-game tilt with a 5-1 win.

Continuing their rebound from a frustrating series opener loss on Tuesday, Pittsburgh’s second straight win was powered by another promising pitching performance by right-hander Bubba Chandler and aided by home runs from Brandon Lowe and Henry Davis.

The Thursday win put the Pirates a game above .500, just in time to put the first half of the season in the books. Heading into a series against their NL Central rivals in Cincinnati, the Pirates are now 41-40, their best record at the halfway point of a season since the 2015 club.

Eleven years ago, Gerrit Cole pitched eight innings and closer Mark Melancon picked up his 27th of 51 saves as the Pirates won their 47th game of the season. At no point since have the Pirates made it this far into a campaign with a winning record.

While perhaps it isn’t surprising to see that the 2015 team was the last team to boast a winning record at the midway point, it is relevant to point out that seasons where the Pirates ended with a winning record, and/or bought at the trade deadline, still didn’t see the Pirates above the .500 mark at the halfway point.

Before the 2018 season, the Pirates traded away Cole and fellow franchise icon Andrew McCutchen, but were an upstart success and finished the season with a winning record.

That same year, they famously traded for starting pitcher Chris Archer at the trade deadline and brought in big-name bullpen help as well. The Pirates made that decision even after they finished the first half of the season underwater, at 39-42. They would end up collapsing down the stretch, but had enough build up to have a winning season in 2018, still their most recent one to date.

Half a decade later in 2023, when the Pirates got off to that incredible 20-8 start, they had crumbled in the following months and plummeted back down to below .500 before the middle of the season. They stumbled to a 39-42 record by the end of June.

And the following year, in a different season where the Pirates bought at the trade deadline, they still made those moves even after finishing the first half of the season with a losing record.

In 2024, the Pirates had also finished with the same exact record as the 2018 and 2023 teams 81 games in, 39-42. General manager Ben Cherington’s moves later that season would prove more fatal than beneficial, and the Pirates started to fall apart just days after the trade deadline.

However, seeing the Pirates finish above .500 halfway in is an encouraging sign for more than one reason. Obviously, it’s a testament to the competitive ballclub the Pirates are fielding this year, and the belief that, at the very least, have a chance come October.

But, given their recent track record, the organization’s history suggests that the team will likely be active at the trade deadline in some capacity.

Here’s to hoping that the Pirates can stay above the line.