The baseball season is a marathon. Each major-league roster is in constant flux as teams deal with surges, slumps, injuries and disappointments throughout the 162-game campaign. When the dust settles, the front office in each city begins analyzing successes and failures and building plans to improve in the future. After all, every year, 29 of 30 teams fall short of the ultimate goal.
With that in mind,
Athletics (eliminated Sept. 17)
Nick Kurtz opened the season as the organization’s top prospect and will likely finish as the AL Rookie of the Year and the centerpiece of the Athletics’ lineup. The slugger needed time to get acclimated, as he hit .208 with one homer in his initial 23 games. Then he became dominant in late May and stayed that way for the rest of the summer, which included one of the most memorable single-game performances in MLB history.
Kurtz wasn’t the only A’s rookie to make a major impact. After getting his feet wet last season, Jacob Wilson spent 2025 ranked among the sport’s batting average leaders, and he emerged as a lineup sparkplug who rarely strikes out and has a little more pop than some expected. His campaign was interrupted in late July by a fractured forearm, but by that point Wilson had already established his significant upside. Read more
There were nearly as many disappointments at the plate as there were on the mound. Adley Rutschman was the highest profile letdown. He was supposed to rebound from a poor second half in 2024 and return to being one of the best young catchers in baseball. Instead, Rutschman regressed further, a huge problem when factoring in that he usually hit second in the lineup.
Ascending youngsters Jordan Westburg and Colton Cowser both missed a significant portion of the first half due to injuries, free-agent signee Tyler O’Neill was a massive bust, and Ryan Mountcastle’s contributions were virtually nonexistent. Former prospects such as Heston Kjerstad and Coby Mayo did not take the next step, and with that, a lineup that was supposed to be among the best in baseball was full of holes from top to bottom. Read more
Junior Caminero is at the outset of a memorable career. Just 22 years old, Camerino has already surpassed 40 homers and 100 RBI in his first full MLB campaign. For an organization known for developing pitchers, having a superstar hitter in the heart of the lineup for years to come will be incredibly valuable. The next challenge for Caminero will be to rank among baseball’s best batters without the benefit of George M. Steinbrenner Field, as he was much more effective at home than on the road in 2025.
Caminero wasn’t the only Rays hitter who had a strong season. Jonathan Aranda, Yandy Díaz and Brandon Lowe each made a significant impact. The success of Aranda was especially encouraging, considering he entered the season as a 26-year-old with 293 career at-bats who was running out of time to take the next step. Díaz used the power-inducing nature of his temporary home park to post a career-best homer total, while the oft-injured Lowe was selected for the All-Star Game and will finish with his most games played (149) since 2021. Read more
There was no shortage of disappointments for a team that ended a string of seven consecutive postseason appearances with a clunker. The Braves lost their first seven games of 2025 and never logged the necessary winning streak to bring them close to a winning record. Another rough stretch near the beginning of July sealed their fate as the most disappointing team in the National League.
In two years, the Braves went from being the highest-scoring group in baseball to ranking below average in runs scored. And injuries were not a major problem for this group; instead, many players signed to long-term deals fell short of expectations for a second straight year. Michael Harris II picked things up in the second half but arrived at the All-Star break with the lowest OPS (.551) of any qualified player. Ozzie Albies has been on a downward trajectory since he produced 33 homers and 109 RBI in 2023. Austin Riley’s decline has been more gradual, but he spent significant time on the IL the past two seasons, and his performances when healthy have been solid rather than excellent. Read more
After having an average offense last year, the Royals were expected to take a step forward with their group of young hitters. Instead, they spent the entire season ranked among the lowest-scoring teams in baseball.
Bobby Witt Jr. continues to be one of the best all-around players in the sport. He fields the shortstop position extremely well and is always dangerous at the plate. That said, there is no hiding the fact that Witt took a major step backward offensively this year. He continued to run the bases aggressively, but his batting average and home run total paled in comparison to his 2024 production. Read more
The Rangers will likely finish the season with the lowest team ERA in MLB. Their rotation was as effective as any in the sport, and despite a lack of high-priced relievers, their bullpen was terrific as well.
Everyone expected Jacob deGrom to pitch well on a per-inning basis, but few would’ve predicted that he would make 30 starts. The 37-year-old no longer averages 99 mph on his fastball, and he won’t rank among the league’s strikeout leaders, but he continues to limit baserunners as well as anyone. And until he went on the IL in late August due to a rotator cuff strain, Nathan Eovaldi could make a case that he was even more valuable than deGrom. The 35-year-old was steady in recent seasons but enjoyed an outstanding 2025 that included a memorable streak of allowing one or fewer runs in 13 of 14 starts from April 25 to Aug. 5. Read more
The Giants ranked among the bottom half of baseball in run-scoring, largely due to a lack of impact players in the lineup. No one on the roster is on pace to hit 30 homers, drive in 90 runs, steal 15 bases or post an OPS above .800. Willy Adames might wind up leading the club in homers and RBI, but he got off to a slow start and by the end of the season will have contributed less than what was expected when he signed a $182 million contract last offseason.
Rafael Devers was supposed to become the team’s star when he was acquired in June, but he wasn’t much better than average. Patrick Bailey’s power stroke completely disappeared, and he struggled to keep his batting average above .200 all season. Finally, Tyler Fitzgerald couldn’t repeat the success of his breakout 2024 season, which led to multiple summer demotions to Triple-A. Not a single position player on this team exceeded expectations. Read more
The Cardinals’ rotation deserves credit for durability, but there was little good news beyond that. Not much was expected of Andre Pallante and Miles Mikolas, yet they struggled to meet even modest ambitions. Erick Fedde went from being a valued addition at last year’s trade deadline to being designated for assignment and shipped to the pitching-starved Braves in July. And Sonny Gray was respectable overall but faltered badly as the team went 8-16 in July and fell out of the postseason race.
The lineup plodded its way to a respectable season despite some serious holes. As good as Scott was defensively, he gave back all that value and more by being one of baseball’s worst hitters. His playing time was cut in August as his OPS continued to float around .600. Another young outfielder, Jordan Walker, was an even bigger disappointment. Once expected to be a lineup centerpiece, Walker struggled mightily at the dish for a second straight year. Thanks to poor plate control and a penchant for hitting grounders, Walker is no longer a lock to have a regular role next year. Read more
The Marlins came back from 16 games under .500 on June 9 to even their record at 55-55 on Aug. 3. During that stretch, their 31-15 record was second-best in baseball. They regressed in August but surprised some opponents in the second half and showed signs that they’re ready to turn the corner and contend for a postseason berth.
The biggest improvements were on offense, as the team will finish near the middle of the pack in runs scored after ranking 27th in 2024. The centerpiece of that improvement is someone who arrived quietly in a trade last summer, Kyle Stowers. After being blocked by veterans in Baltimore, Stowers finally got a chance at a full-time role in Miami and took full advantage, ranking among the MLB leaders in home runs and OPS and representing the Marlins in the 2025 All-Star Game. Read more
Arizona’s pitching staff ranked among the least effective in baseball throughout the season. The biggest letdown was Corbin Burnes, who signed a $210 million contract in the offseason, then made 11 starts before being shut down due to an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. The organization will now get next to nothing from its new ace during the first two years of his deal.
While injuries led to the disappointment from Burnes, there was no such excuse for Zac Gallen, who entered the season with a lifetime 3.25 ERA before struggling to push his 2025 mark under 5.00. Gallen didn’t lose any velocity, but his strikeout rate dropped, and walks were a problem for a second straight year. The expectations coming in were lower for Brandon Pfaadt and Eduardo Rodriguez, but like Gallen, they struggled to maintain ERAs under 5.00. Read more
The Astros fell apart when the games mattered most. They opened September by losing three consecutive series against the Yankees, Rangers and Blue Jays. Then came the biggest blow, when they were swept at home by the Mariners. They didn’t recover from that debacle, as they went to Sacramento and dropped a series against the Athletics before losing Friday to the Angels and getting eliminated with the Tigers’ and Guardians’ victories Saturday.
The Astros deployed a below-average offense, and their struggles were especially notable in the second half. The absence of superstar slugger Yordan Alvarez was a big part of the problem. He went on the IL on May 5 due to what was originally diagnosed as right hand inflammation. The injury was later revealed to be a fracture, and he remained out of action until Aug. 26. Not only did Alvarez appear in just 48 games, but he also logged a .797 OPS across those games after entering the season with a career mark of .973. Read more
The Mets might have won their first NL East title since 2015 if not for a brutal stretch from July 28 to Aug. 15. They led the Phillies by 1.5 games on July 28, but by the time their Aug. 15 game ended, they had gone 2-14 and sat six games back of Philadelphia. It was especially frustrating that most of that slump occurred immediately after the Mets’ front office made several acquisitions at the trade deadline. Another brutal losing streak — eight consecutive defeats from Sept. 6 to 13 — caused the club to fall back in the NL wild-card race before ultimately missing the postseason entirely.
The veteran members of the rotation were a problem, especially down the stretch. Clay Holmes, David Peterson, Kodai Senga deserve credit for each making at least 22 starts and maintaining ERAs below 4.30. But Peterson logged a 6.68 ERA in August and an eye-popping 9.72 in September. Meanwhile, Holmes was removed from the rotation in the middle of September, and Senga spent the final weeks of the season in Triple-A. Sean Manaea didn’t debut until July 13 and finished the season with a 5.64 ERA. Read more
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