As the Pirates’ season mercifully winds down, one wonders: What is their most embarrassing moment from an embarrassing 2021 season?

The cumulative is actually more embarrassing than anything.

The Pirates are on pace to lose 106 games. They have lost six in a row and eight of nine. They are 8-25 since Aug. 1. They have the third-worst record in MLB.

But the embarrassing moments are spectacular in their humiliation.

Three stand out among the rest.

• First baseman Will Craig “traps” Chicago’s Javy Baez in MLB’s first-ever rundown between first base and home plate. There were two outs. All Craig had to do is turn and step on the bag. Instead, the Cubs got a run. That took place May 27 at the Cubs’ Wrigley Field.

• Ke’Bryan Hayes missed first base after hitting a home run and was called out on appeal. That happened June 8 vs. Los Angeles at PNC Park.

• Last Thursday at Wrigley Field, second baseman Wilmer Difo misplayed a routine pop-up into an 11th-inning walk-off victory for the host Cubs.

It’s one thing to lose. It’s another to morph into a clown act. The Pirates consistently do both.

You could make an argument that Gregory Polanco’s season was just one long embarrassing moment. But then you’re arguing semantics.

The three moments listed are decidedly strong. (Weak.)

The most recent saw Difo surrounding himself in comical fashion. He circled his own wagon. “Yakety Sax” should have been playing. Bill Mazeroski is 85, and he’d have made that play.

Hayes’ miscue punctuated a rotten rookie season. Hayes was touted as a Rookie of the Year candidate, but has a slash line of .245/.315/.371. That’s compared to .376/.442/.682 last season during his brief 24-game stint. (Hayes is a good fielder. Who cares?)

Last year, Hayes had five home runs in 95 plate appearances. He also has five this year, but in 317 plate appearances. He would have six, but flunked Baseball 101 by missing first base.

But Craig’s miscue seems a clear-cut No. 1.

It’s not only the dumbest player of the Pirates’ season, it might be the dumbest play in baseball history. There has never before been a rundown between home plate and first base. No reason for one exists. It’s absolute buffoonery.

Craig otherwise stunk, too, so he got designated for assignment June 4. On June 13, he was acquired by the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korean Baseball League.

Craig’s bumble was so bad, he got exiled to another continent. Somebody check the Korean Baseball League’s rulebook. Maybe a rundown between home plate and first base is possible there.

The Pirates’ whole season has been farcical.

A position player has pitched six times. That’s a very occasional sheepish moment for most MLB teams. With the Pirates, it’s habit forming. The Pirates have used 34 different pitchers.

The Pirates had four double-digit losses in August and were shut out six times. They haven’t allowed less than six runs in a game since September started.

If you parse everything the Pirates have done in 2021, it just gets worse and worse.

Will it ever get better and better?

Of course, it will. The Pirates had the best draft in the history of sports drafts this past July. The Pirates are going to be terrific in 2024 or so.

Or they won’t be. And even if they are, imagine the further embarrassment that takes place between now and then. When does the future arrive?

By the way, those who put such great stock in this year’s draft should know that Craig was the Pirates’ first-round pick in 2016. Just five years later, he’s playing in Korea.

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