Last season ended with the Dodgers winning their first legitimate full-season World Series since 1988 and while the offseason’s marquee move was Juan Soto signing with the Mets, the rest of the offseason has been covered in a bunch of fans whining about how unfair the game is because the Dodgers continue to improve themselves.
And, sure, they are great. They are No. 1 here in the Official Power Rankings. But I’ve already pointed out that they are far from a sure thing and they certainly aren’t good enough to elicit this level of hullabaloo. Hate them? Yes. Feel schadenfreude whenever bad things happen to them? Absolutely! What’s the fun in sports if you don’t have a villain against whom to root?
There will be plenty of time for that, but how about some positivity as well?
The Super Bowl is behind us and that’s always the sign that we can move full speed ahead with baseball talk. Yes, I’m aware some popular winter sports — sports I love, too — are still going, but there’s an easy division point with football ending and spring training starting.
With the spring comes a clean slate. I’ve mentioned before that I often hear the great Catherine O’Hara as Kevin’s mother saying that Christmas is “the season of perpetual hope,” in Home Alone. Well, as baseball fans, spring training is our season of perpetual hope.
If you’re a White Sox fan and are excited for this season, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise (though I wouldn’t advise scrolling down the rankings or looking at any projections). If you’re a Mets fan and see someone predicting them to finish third place in the NL East, don’t get all furious, just laugh it off. If you are a Reds fan and want to believe they’re gonna take the NL Central, believe it.
And for as much consternation as there has been in the offseason, an awful lot of teams do look to have a good shot to make the playoffs this year and, given the small-sample nature of the playoffs, that means they have a chance to win the World Series.
As an example, Fangraphs’ projections have every AL East team finishing within six games of one another. Same with the NL Central. The top three AL West teams are within one game of each other in those projections while the AL Central top three are within two games. Only three NL teams are not projected to be within six games of a playoff spot and that number on the AL side is also three — but two of those three are eight back.
This means we can safely call 24 teams likely contenders heading into the season, if those projections are to be trusted even slightly — and could even run the tally to 26 if we wanted. That leaves just the White Sox, Nationals, Marlins and Rockies out in the cold, but there are reasons to follow all of those teams and, to reiterate, those fans bases should ignore the noise right now anyway.
Replace the whining with optimism and hope. It is time for spring training. And on that note, every team comment below will simply be something for which I’m excited.
Biggest Movers
Rk |
Teams |
Chg |
Rcrd |
|
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: Seeing Shohei Ohtani return to a two-way player. He was baseball’s biggest draw as a designated hitter and this year he’ll be pitching again. | 1 | |
2 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: Can Kyle Schwarber hit 50 homers? He’s flirted with getting there twice before, topping out at 47. | 1 | |
3 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: It’s an easy one, and it’s the return of Ronald Acuña Jr. He remains one of the electric players in baseball. | 7 | |
4 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: Jazz Chisholm Jr. had 11 homers and 18 steals in his 46 regular-season games for the Yankees. That’s a full-season pace of 39 home runs and 63 stolen bases. He’s got that kind of power-speed upside and that’s all kinds of fun. | 3 | |
5 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: Juan Soto’s first impression, obviously, but also I’m very intrigued by how Kodai Senga will fare in a full season after injuries ruined what was to be his second season stateside. | 3 | |
6 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: All the bounce-back and upside possibilities, such as Evan Carter, Wyatt Langford, Jacob deGrom, Kumar Rocker and even Adolis García. | 16 | |
7 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: What could be a stellar rotation in Corbin Burnes, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez and Brandon Pfaadt. | 1 | |
8 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: The big-picture view that is wondering if the streaks will continue. They’ve been to the playoffs eight straight years and won the AL West seven straight 162-game seasons. | 1 | |
9 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: The Gunnar Henderson encore. The only Orioles players ever to post a 9-WAR season are Cal Ripken Jr. (twice) and Henderson (last season). George Sisler also did it once when this franchise was the St. Louis Browns. That’s how rare it is. Henderson is only heading to his age-24 season, too. | 3 | |
10 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: The Jackson Merrill encore is up there, but I’m also looking for more from Fernando Tatis Jr. Don’t forget that he’s only 26 and as talented as anyone. | 6 | |
11 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: Julio Rodríguez. Last year was not indicative how good he is and is going to be. He’s going to post an MVP-worthy season one of these years. | 3 | |
12 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: Pete Crow-Armstrong has elite-level baserunning and defensive chops. He’s only going to be 23 years old this year. He hit well down the stretch, too. Is he going to be a breakout star? | 4 | |
13 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: Is Steven Kwan’s power increase real and how much further will it go? | 8 | |
14 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: It’s overarching, because the Tigers were one of the best stories in baseball in the final two months with their surge to the playoffs. So the answer here is easy: Can they carry it over to 2025? | 3 | |
15 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: The only two players in Royals history to ever record a 9-WAR season are George Brett (1980) and Bobby Witt Jr. (2024). Witt is only 24 years old entering the season, so what else does he have in store for us? | 2 | |
16 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: A healthy Royce Lewis? Please? A healthy Royce Lewis!(?) | 1 | |
17 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: Things seemed to click for Jackson Chourio around the start of June last year. In his last 97 games, he hit .305/.360/.528 with 25 doubles, four triples, 16 homers, 63 RBI, 60 runs and 15 steals. He’ll only be 21 this year. What will he do? | 10 | |
18 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: The Bo Bichette bounce-back in his contract year. | 5 | |
19 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: Jarren Duran and Rafael Devers are as exciting a 1-2 punch as any in baseball. | 1 | |
20 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: The return of Shane McClanahan! | 1 | |
21 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: I’m intrigued by Logan Webb, Robbie Ray and Justin Verlander atop that rotation in that ballpark, but I think the answer remains Matt Chapman’s defense. | 1 | |
22 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: There are several reasonable answers here and I’m especially a fan of Hunter Greene, but the easy and obvious answer is simply watching Elly De La Cruz play baseball. He’s on the short list of the most must-see players in all of baseball. He just notched himself 36 doubles, 10 triples, 25 homers and 67 steals at age 22. | 1 | |
23 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: Paul. Freaking. Skenes. C’mon. | 1 | |
24 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: Seeing when and where they trade Nolan Arenado. | 7 | |
25 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: James Wood and Dylan Crews together in the outfield everyday. Even if the team doesn’t contend, that’s a reason to tune in all season. | — | |
26 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: As always, holding out hope for a full and healthy Mike Trout season, but aside from the too-obvious answer, youngster Zach Neto is a very exciting player. | 1 | |
27 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: Lawrence Butler, baby! If you aren’t familiar, acquaint yourself. | 1 | |
28 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: The workhorse nature of Sandy Alcantara before his injury was one of my favorite things in baseball. Unfortunately, the 2022 Cy Young winner missed all of 2024, but he’s back. Surely they’ll dial back his workload, but I still love his approach and mentality. Welcome back, big man. | 1 | |
29 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: Every game in Coors Field is exciting and it’s an amazing ballpark. That’s a given. | 1 | |
30 |
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What I’m most looking forward to: When and where will Luis Robert Jr. be traded? | — |
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