Paul Skenes Gives the Most Paul Skenes Response to Facing Mets on Opening Day

The reigning Cy Young Award winner is a man of very few words.

Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes didn’t say much about facing the Mets on Opening Day. | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Paul Skenes is a powerful force on the pitching mound—he is the reigning Cy Young Award winner after all. But, he isn’t known for his bubbly personality.

There’s a funny narrative in MLB that Skenes has the personality of a wet mop, and he continues to give fans examples of this narrative.

He is set to start for the Pirates for Opening Day on Thursday against the Mets in New York. During his media availability on Wednesday, the ace was asked if it was special for him to get the first start of the season in New York. He gave the most on-brand response ever.

“Maybe a little bit [special]. It's kinda chilly.”

Paul Skenes is asked if opening up the season in New York is special to him in any way:

"Maybe a little bit. It's kinda chilly." pic.twitter.com/InkSmAkEwU

— SNY (@SNYtv) March 25, 2026

New York City has a high of 50 degrees on Wednesday, but that temperature jumps up to 70 for Thursday, so Skenes should be happier about the weather when he steps on the mound at Citi Field.

He elaborated a little bit more when he was asked what his expectations would be facing a stacked Mets lineup for his first start of the season.

“They're a good team. It'll be exciting to face them,” Skenes said.

Paul Skenes is asked what sort of challenge the Mets' lineup poses for him on Opening Day:

"They're a good team. It'll be exciting to face them." pic.twitter.com/oE78tpkaT1

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) March 25, 2026

A man of few words, that’s for sure. His pitching talks for itself.

The Mets-Pirates game starts at 1:15 p.m. ET on Thursday. We’ll see if Skenes can secure a win for Pittsburgh to start the season, or if the Mets’ lineup will charge past the Cy Young winner.

What Paul Skenes said about the Pirates’ 2026 season expectations

Skenes gave a longer response when talking about his own team’s goals for the 2026 season.

“We want to win the division. We want to make the playoffs. That’s it,” Skenes said. “How we do that, who knows. Whether we win—I don’t want to put a number of games out there because that’s just putting a ceiling on us. We gotta go out there and play well every day.”

Paul Skenes says the goal of this Pirates team is to win the division and make the playoffs. pic.twitter.com/hAJxzgydzF

— 93.7 The Fan (@937theFan) March 25, 2026

These are some lofty goals for the Pirates. Last season, Pittsburgh finished last in the NL Central with a 71–91 record. The Pirates have actually never won the NL Central since they joined the division in 1994. The franchise last won a division title in 1990 when Pittsburgh was in the NL East. The Pirates have finished either fourth or fifth in the division every year since 2016 when they finished third. Winning the division this year would be a huge deal for the Pirates franchise, but they’ll need to undergo a complete 180 from last year in a tough division led by the Brewers and Cubs.

As for the team’s playoff goal, the Pirates haven’t made the MLB postseason since 2015, so it’s been over a decade at this point. Skenes is hungry for a chance to make his playoff debut, so we’ll see if this year ends up being the year.

Although the Pirates as a whole struggled last season, Skenes didn’t. He posted a 1.97 ERA (following up from a 1.96 ERA during his rookie season) and threw 216 strikeouts in 32 starts.

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