Paul Skenes grew used to the buzz that surrounds him a while ago. Still, Saturday was different. Throughout an unseasonably warm spring afternoon, the mania that seems to follow the 22-year-old Pittsburgh Pirates ace whenever he takes the mound collided with the reality of the current state of his underperforming team.

The Pittsburgh Pirates front office had itself a rare W on Saturday when it announced that every fan in attendance for the team's game vs. the Cleveland Guardians—rather than just the first 20,000— would receive a highly coveted Paul Skenes bobblehead, an audible called after droves and droves of spectators descended upon PNC Park.