For the second year in a row, the Pittsburgh Pirates provided a sad end to a promising season, and now top club executives face the task of examining what went wrong and what could have been done differently, but wasn’t.

Top executives as well as leaders on the field are to blame for the second-consecutive collapse — top management for not acting more aggressively to shore up team weaknesses and some questionable decision making regarding when and how certain players were used.

But manager Clint Hurdle, a bulwark of what success the team did achieve during the past two seasons, deserves the continuing confidence of top management and the fans.

For the bulk of the 20 seasons in a row that the Pirates finished under .500, the team was hindered by weak managers in the dugout who didn’t deserve the confidence they were extended. Hurdle has been a refreshing change and, it’s safe to say, he will bring above .500 baseball back to the Steel City — and maybe even a stronger run for the championship than the Bucs exhibited this year prior to the start of their collapse after Aug. 8’s 62-46 record.

Some fans might be wondering whether the Pirates franchise, having experienced under-.500 ball for two decades, might have suffered a late-season mental block, causing so much talent to disintegrate.

Meanwhile, while the Bucs were faltering, another small-market team, the Oakland Athletics, was defying odds and recovering from 13 games back of first place on June 30 to win the American League West championship on the final day of the regular season.

Overall, it’s clear that the Pirates needed maybe only one hitting “spark plug” and one solid pitcher to avoid what ultimately resulted.

On Aug. 8, no one envisioned that the Pirates would be unable to capture the 20 wins required to produce a winning season, whether or not the Bucs ultimately won a playoff spot. But the Pirates did just that with a 17-37 finish, leaving the team with a 79-83 record.

Despite the record, the team wasn’t an embarrassment to the city and its fans. The Pirates played much good baseball and generated a lot of excitement along the way, even though many of the breaks didn’t go the team’s way.

Fans should look ahead to exciting seasons going forward, with the young players continuing to mature. The fans should remain as determined to support the team in the future as they demonstrated during the just-completed season.

Hopefully, there will be a couple of strong additions to the team for 2013, including minor league talent ready to make a positive mark on the parent squad.

Pirates fans can be excused for being sad while watching the teams that won playoff spots compete in the postseason. Many will wonder what might have been — on the playoff front — if the Bucs had won just a few more games — and demonstrated the drive that the Athletics exhibited in Oakland.

Suffice to say that, as in 2011, the 2012 season wasn’t able to break the under-.500 jinx. That means all associated with the team now need to figure out where to go from here.

Another year of maturity could go a long way to fix what went wrong this and last season, but the team cannot merely hope for the best. Some changes will be necessary.

For the fans, this will be an offseason for reflection, and if the National Hockey League doesn’t resolve its contract problem, the stage will be set for a long winter, regardless of what success the Steelers might achieve.