In years past, it was often starting pitching that got the most attention at the trade deadline. Whether aces, workhorses or innings-eaters, starters were the focus as teams prepared for the stretch run with hope of securing a spot in the postseason.

But it’s a new day in baseball. And if the 2025 MLB trade deadline showed us anything, it’s that in today’s game, a strong bullpen might be just as important as starting pitching — and maybe even more important, for some teams. Almost any team looking to reach the postseason is going to want to improve their bullpen. And this year, there was a clear arms race — pun intended — among baseball’s elite.

At the 2024 trade deadline, the San Diego Padres attempted something other teams hadn’t tried before. Sure, teams had added closers and high-leverage arms, but in a division with the Dodgers, the thinking in San Diego seemed to go, the Padres needed more than that. So San Diego acquired multiple potential closers in Robert Suarez, Tanner Scott and Jason Adam, putting together a three-headed bullpen monster that proved to be highly effective in both the regular season and the postseason.

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With another trade deadline in the books, it’s clear that the strategy employed by president AJ Preller and the 2024 Padres was noticed by other teams around baseball — as was the success the Padres enjoyed with their electric high-leverage arms. At this year’s deadline, the high-leverage arms were the stars of the show.

The Philadelphia Phillies have needed consistency in the ninth inning for years. Whether it was Ian Kennedy, post-prime Craig Kimbrel or even Carlos Estevez last season, they haven’t had a top-tier answer in the bullpen to match their starting pitching and their offense. On Wednesday, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski addressed his team’s longtime need in a big way, acquiring closer Jhoan Duran from the Twins to give Philly a much-needed weapon late in games.

The New York Mets took a similar approach, trading for closer Ryan Helsley from the Cardinals, side-armer Tyler Rogers from the Giants and left-hander Gregory Soto from the Orioles. Those three arms, combined with closer Edwin Diaz and a quality assortment of relievers such as Ryne Stanek and Reed Garrett, give the Mets one of the strongest bullpens, top to bottom, in baseball.

On the other side of town, Brian Cashman and the Yankees weren’t going to be left out. The Yankees have leaned heavily this season on their high-leverage arms, including Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, Mark Leiter Jr. and Fernando Cruz. And with the deadline additions of right-handers David Bednar, Jake Bird and Camilo Doval, New York’s bullpen has plenty of closing experience, options and depth. The Yanks now have a bullpen that, on paper, is the best in the American League and can take some pressure off the starters.

To a lesser degree but not to be forgotten, the Cubs, Tigers and Blue Jays all added pieces to their relief corps as well.

And it wouldn’t be the trade deadline without Preller making his presence felt. The Padres’ president made arguably the biggest move of the month on Thursday, acquiring fireballer Mason Miller from the A’s in a package that included MLB’s No. 3 prospect, Leo De Vries. 

The big swing can be interpreted as Preller doubling down; San Diego figured out something that worked with their bullpen strategy last season. Granted, the Padres lost to the Dodgers in Game 5 of the NLDS, but their bullpen is one of the main reasons they were on the precipice of upending the eventual World Series champs in October.

This time around, adding maybe the most electric closer in baseball in Miller to a bullpen that includes Suárez, Adam, Jeremiah Estrada and first-time All-Star Adrian Morejon gives the Padres an even better version of last year’s bullpen. San Diego, just three games back of the Dodgers as August begins, has some serious firepower to deploy in its attempt to chase down L.A.

Leading up to Thursday’s deadline, the reliever market had been aggressive for weeks and as competitive as any we’ve seen in some time. It wasn’t just that many of the best teams in baseball were looking to acquire bullpen arms; also upping the price was that some of the top relievers available, including Duran, Miller and Griffin Jax, who was traded to the Rays, have years of club control remaining. Prior to Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase being placed on administrative leave on Monday, it appeared that he was also on that list, with several teams showing interest in him.

Taken as a whole, the way the 2025 trade deadline played out highlights the increased importance of difference-makers in the bullpen today and is a sign of the times in baseball. Postseason games are now often decided by relievers even more than starters, and this week’s moves to acquire electric relievers, combined with the lack of trades on the starting pitching market, emphasize that.

And now that the powerhouses in baseball have reinforced their bullpens, the race to October and the World Series, which looks wide-open, begins in earnest.

It was an incredibly busy 2025 MLB trade deadline, with a dizzying array of deals right before the 6 p.m. ET Thursday deadline. NL contenders like the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies improved, the Minnesota Twins traded 10 players off their roster (including Carlos Correa going back to Houston) and the San Diego Padres executed yet another stunning deadline deal.

In all, there were 52 trades in the final 48 hours and 14 in the final half hour before the deadline. When the dust settled, the MLB landscape changed and plenty of World Series odds shifted.

“The Mariners made my favorite moves at the deadline,” BetMGM trader Halvor Egeland said Friday. “They had such a gap in their offense. I’ve thought they’ve been a few moves away for 3-4 years now. The rotation has been awesome, but now that lineup doesn’t have a huge hole. I firmly believe they’re a World Series contender, and I don’t know if I would’ve said that before adding those two bats in Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez.”

Seattle had 28-1 odds to win the World Series before the deadline, and got as low as 15-1 before settling at 18-1. Caesars Sportsbook MLB trader Eric Biggio told me the Texas Rangers (40-1 to 28-1) and San Diego Padres (28-1 to 18-1) were the two teams whose odds shifted the most at his book.

Here are some of the other MLB teams that had the most notable changes to their World Series odds at BetMGM due to deadline moves.

Winners

San Diego Padres

Pre-deadline odds: 35-1

Current: 17-1

Egeland: “They may not have much of a future with how they acted, but the present looks pretty good. Already had a dominant bullpen and then they get Mason Miller, who has one of the best arms in baseball. Even little trades like Nestor Cortes, they’re going all out. They’re three games behind the Dodgers, so you can’t just write in L.A. now [as the division winner]. They also just swept the Mets. They went all out once again. They didn’t trade Dylan Cease, so they kept their pitching. The doubt may be that they don’t have the deepest starting pitching. The only thing holding them back is they’re in the NL.”

Texas Rangers

Pre-deadline odds: 66-1

Current: 25-1

Egeland: “They’re an interesting one. We’ve been kind of shortening even before deadline moves. They already had the strength of starting pitching, but grabbing Merrill Kelly was a big move. That’s an awesome rotation now. BetMGM traders thought they were a threat this offseason. We think the AL West, any one of those three teams can make a run in the playoffs, so Rangers I would consider a win. A little bit of a team we always had our eye on, so we’d like to be short on. Won 12 of their last 16.”

Houston Astros

Pre-deadline odds: 13-1

Current: 11-1

Egeland: “Another big winner, a team that’s going for it. Awesome to see Carlos Correa coming back — one of the deals you heard happening and wrote off. Added [Jesús] Sánchez from Mariners and [Ramón] Urías — two quality bats, and they have some pitching coming back from injuries.”

New York Mets

Pre-deadline odds: 13-1

Current: +850

Egeland: “You have to like what the Mets did. Their primary needs were bullpen and center field. They shocked the world in less than an hour [getting Ryan Helsley]. They went from having an average, at best, bullpen to having the best, maybe for a few minutes before the Padres got Miller. Cedric Mullens is another great add. I think a lot of Mets fans wanted Luis Robert, but price was too steep. Mullens solidifies center field, and New York didn’t give up any of the younger guys in the lineup now.

Philadelphia Phillies

Pre-deadline odds: +950

Current: +850

Egeland: “Another team that got better. Jhoan Duran is going to be electric in Philly. Another high-leverage arm with a big price tag. Harrison Bader is a great defender and has his moments offensively. Yet another NL contender.”

Losers

Detroit Tigers

Pre-deadline odds: +650

Current: +950

Egeland: “A little performance-wise as well. You have to be disappointed at what Detroit did. With how the AL is and the Tigers seemingly one of the top contenders, you would’ve hoped they would have done more.”

Milwaukee Brewers (13-1 to 18-1) and Chicago Cubs (10-1 to 12-1)

Egeland: “Both teams you would’ve expected to do more. Similar to Dodgers, we still hold them in high regard, but other teams improved more.”

Minnesota Twins

Pre-deadline odds: 100-1

Current: 1,000-1

Egeland: “We don’t consider them a threat at all this year. I think I wrote down, ‘Sheesh, see ya later.'”

The Favorite

Los Angeles Dodgers

Pre-deadline odds: +225

Current: +250

Egeland: “It’s hard to really critique the Dodgers with how they’ve built their team. We pushed them out a little bit, not because they got any worse, but a lot of contending teams in the NL got better. If we’re going to move other teams in, gotta move them down.”

The New York Yankees have released starting pitcher Marcus Stroman, the team announced Friday. 

His release comes after the Yankees added relievers David Bednar, Camilo Doval and Jake Bird (in addition to utilityman José Caballero) before Thursday’s MLB trade deadline. In his final start for the Yankees, Stroman allowed four runs and six hits with three strikeouts in a 7-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. He allowed four runs in each of his past two outings. 

Stroman, 34, compiled a 6.23 ERA with a 3-2 record in nine starts for the Yankees this season. He struck out 26 batters in 39 innings, tying a career low with an average of six strikeouts per nine innings. 

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Stroman signed a two-year, $37 million deal with the Yankees in January 2024. The team owes him the remaining $5.61 million on his contract for this season, per MLB Trade Rumors. Any team that decides to add Stroman will pay him the prorated major-league minimum.

Stroman’s role for 2025 was uncertain during spring training, when the Yankees projected to have a full five-man rotation with Gerrit Cole, free-agent addition Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, 2024 American League Rookie of the Year Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt. Stroman insisted that he was a starting pitcher and did not want to pitch out of the bullpen. As a result, he was attached to trade rumors throughout the spring.

Then Cole underwent Tommy John surgery, and Gil and Schmidt began the season on the injured list. (Schmidt’s season eventually ended with reconstructive surgery as well.) As a result, Stroman essentially won a spot in the starting rotation by default but later missed two months of the early season due to left knee inflammation.

Gil is scheduled to make his first start of the season on Sunday versus the Miami Marlins, which bumped Stroman from the rotation. Going forward, Fried (12-4, 2.64 ERA) and Rodón (11-7, 3.18) will fill the first two spots on the Yankees’ starting staff, followed by Gil, with rookies Will Warren (6-5, 4.64) and Cam Schlittler (1-1, 4.91) taking the last two turns.

In addition to releasing Stroman, the Yankees recently traded Carlos Carrasco to the Atlanta Braves and demoted Allan Winans to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to streamline their pitching staff. 

Over 11 MLB seasons, Stroman has a 3.79 ERA and 90-87 record, averaging 7.4 strikeouts per nine innings. He pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets and Chicago Cubs before joining the Yankees.

Kings reportedly included Malik Monk in Jonathan Kuminga trade offer to Warriors originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Kings included one of their top playmakers and a first-round NBA draft pick in a recently reported Jonathan Kuminga trade package to the Warriors.

Golden State and Kuminga have been at a stalemate in contract discussions this offseason, and the franchise has been fielding plenty of trade offers from teams around the NBA.

“As for the Kings, which last spoke with the Warriors earlier this week, team sources say they’ve offered a three-year, $63 million deal for Kuminga in a proposal that would send veteran guard Malik Monk and their 2030 first-round pick (lottery protected) to the Warriors,” The Athletic’s Sam Amick wrote.

“If that pick didn’t convey, then the Warriors would get the least favorable of the Kings or San Antonio’s first-round pick in 2031. Those protections have been the primary sticking point, team sources said, as the Warriors have insisted that the first-rounder be unprotected. Thus, the stalemate.”

Sacramento is in a significant retooling under first-year general manager Scott Perry, and the 22-year-old’s blend of length and athleticism would be an enticing addition to the Kings’ lineup.

The Warriors selected Kuminga with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft with the expectation that he would mature into a versatile two-way player and be the centerpiece of Golden State’s “two timelines” approach.

However, the 22-year-old fell out of the regular rotation last season after the Jimmy Butler trade. It appears a breakup is likely as Kuminga and the Warriors have made little progress in contract negotiations this offseason.

Still, Golden State hasn’t liked any of the trade offers, so the entire situation appears to be at a standstill.

While both sides are ready to move on from each other, finding a situation that satisfies everyone is going to be a big challenge with the start of the 2025-26 NBA season quickly approaching.

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