Sorry, Pittsburgh Pirates, your World Series trophy is in another castle. And she’s trapped in the NL Central too!

The Pirates won’t make their fourth straight playoff trip this season, which has to be looked upon as a disappointment since many pundits thought they were capable of making a step forward this season. Instead, the Pirates saw their biggest star struggle and one of their biggest strengths hit a downturn. There were some positives to take from the Pirates season, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see them back in contention in 2017.

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Like we’ll do with every eliminated team in our Game Over series, we’re about to examine what went wrong for the Pirates, what went right, what’s the best 2016 memory, what they need to fix and what the future might hold.

WHAT WENT WRONG
It’s unfair to pin everything on Andrew McCutchen, but his 2016 was certainly less than stellar. He went from being a perennial NL MVP candidate the past few years to not even be worth a full win over replacement, according to Fangraphs. His WAR is 0.9 going into Friday’s action. Ouch. He did hit .286 in the final month of the season, which is better than that his .255 average this season.

Pitching, usually one of their biggest strengths, was also a reason the Pirates dropped out of playoff contention this season. Last year, when they made their third straight playoff appearance, the Pirates had the second best ERA in baseball. This year? Sixteenth and almost a full run higher. It starts with Francisco Liriano’s 5.46 ERA before his trade to Toronto and includes the injury-shortened season of Gerrit Cole. Pittsburgh couldn’t have expected Jon Niese, Jeff Locke and Ryan Vogelsong to be world beaters, but all three of them having ERAs round 5.00 was not helpful.

WHAT WENT RIGHT
It was a disappointing season for the Pirates, but it’s certainly not all bad. They’re a model of solid hitting: every single one of their eight starting position players (including the injured Josh Harrison) has an average over .250. Left fielder Starling Marte is having another fantastic season, hitting .311/362/.456. Right fielder Gregory Polanco, in just his third major league season, has raised his homer game. He hit 22 this year, up from 9 in 2015. Even the guys they expected more from, like Francisco Cervelli and John Jaso, have been able to keep respectable batting averages despite their struggles. And there’s more! Even their utility players hit well: David Freese .269 with 13 home runs, and Sean Rodriguez is hitting .274 with 18 home runs. With their pitching dissolving the way it did, it’s their solid offense that kept them afloat for so long.

TOP OF THE FLAGPOLE (aka THEIR BEST MOMENT)
The Pirates were still in the thick of the NL wild-card race when they beat down the Astros 7-1 on Aug. 23 thanks to sterling performances from Ivan Nova and Gregory Polanco. Nova pitched a complete game, allowing one run on six hits and one walk and striking out six, as he really found a groove in Pittsburgh after being traded there from the Yankees. Polanco provided a big part of the offense, slugging two home runs, as the 25-year-old has emerged this season as one of the game’s promising young outfielders. (Israel Fehr)

CHANGES THEY NEED TO MAKE
No team could use a division change more than Pittsburgh. With the Cubs loaded for the foreseeable future and the Cardinals still maximizing nearly every player’s potential, it’s a constant uphill battle. Not helping matters is Pittsburgh’s lack of big spending. They’re bottom six in payroll this season, and though there’s an impressive crop of prospects filtering in as we speak, they need to spend because they need to add another impact player to help out the offense or bolster the rotation behind Gerrit Cole. The “everything has to go right” philosophy simply doesn’t work in their division. (Mark Townsend)

WARP TO THE FUTURE
Tyler Glasnow saw some time in the majors in 2016, and should open the year as part of the Pirates rotation next season. The 23-year-old carried over a strong strikeout rate to the majors, but needs to work on his control. He’ll be joined by first baseman Josh Bell, who hit a solid .283/.382/.425 in a brief taste of the majors.

Outfielder Austin Meadows is considered close to ready, but finding him a spot in the club’s crowded outfield could be an issue. After hitting just .214/.297/.460 in Triple-A, the team doesn’t have to rush him to the majors to start next year. (Chris Cwik)

PREVIOUSLY IN THIS SERIES: Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Angels, San Diego Padres, Cincinnati Reds, Oakland Athletics, Arizona Diamondbacks, Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz