The Tremendous Bowl is now greater than per week within the rear view mirror and, for Eagles followers like myself, I’m nonetheless not performed re-watching the highlights of their beatdown of the Chiefs. Not even shut.
However this week, full squad spring coaching exercises started round Main League Baseball, and Grapefruit and Cactus League video games start as quickly as this weekend. Sure, mates, it’s formally baseball season and there’s tons to debate.
Listed here are my prime 10 storylines as gamers filter into camp and the faux video games get underway!
Simply How Good Will the Dodgers Be?
Final yr’s Dodgers squad? Boy, what a bunch of underachievers. All they did was win an NL-best 98 video games and their first World Collection for the reason that pandemic-shortened season of 2020, and first full-season title since 1988.
Clearly motivated by their galling incapability to win 100+ video games or outpace the 93-win Padres by at the very least 15 video games within the NL West, L.A. this low season determined to easily purchase the whole lot out there not named Juan Soto. They gained the Roki Sasaki derby, signed outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, Blake Treinin and two-time Cy Younger Award winner Blake Snell, in addition to relievers Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates, giving them a SuperTeam that’s the overwhelming favourite to take residence one other World Collection trophy. Oh, and Shohei Ohtani is prone to return to the mound, too.
The final workforce to repeat as World Collection champions are the 2000 New York Yankees, performed 1 / 4 century in the past. So positive, the Dodgers are completely loaded. They gained the low season and seem to haven’t any weaknesses. But when historical past is our information, it doesn’t matter if L.A. breaks Seattle’s single-season win document (116) or in the event that they win the NL West by 25 video games. As soon as the postseason event will get underway, all an opponent has to do is determine a method to win three of 5 or 4 out seven to finish the Dodgers’ goals of repeating.
Nonetheless, it needs to be a runaway common season for Los Angeles.
Bryce Harper’s Elusive First Title
This might be Harper’s seventh season in Phillies’ pinstripes. Now 32 years previous, he’s nonetheless an elite bat and has become a Gold Glove caliber first baseman, however has but to win a World Collection in what seems to be a Corridor of Fame profession. He and the Phillies acquired actually shut in 2022, falling two wins quick towards the Houston Astros. With every successive yr, Philadelphia has fallen one step shorter.
The franchise ought to have gained a title sooner or later throughout Harper’s six-year run, so coming into yr No. 7, the stress to take action has by no means been larger. Not solely that, your entire core is getting older.
Zack Wheeler is 35, J.T. Realmuto is 34, Nick Castellanos is 33, and Aaron Nola, Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber are all 32. The entrance workplace hopes minor leaguers Andrew Painter, Aiden Miller, Moises Chace and Justin Crawford, all top-100 prospects, will assist prop the window of competition open as these gamers age, however there isn’t any assure of that. One can’t assist however really feel the 2025 season could also be this explicit core’s final, finest shot to lastly convey residence the Phils’ first World Collection title in 17 years.
There isn’t a workforce in baseball underneath extra stress to win the World Collection than this Phillies workforce.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr’s Future
One of many prizes of subsequent yr’s free agent class seems to be Toronto’s Vladimir Guerreror, Jr., the Blue Jays’ slugging first baseman, who could also be taking part in his last season within the Nice White North.
There had been hypothesis that Vlad may go out a contract extension this spring to stick with the Jays, however at a information convention on Tuesday, Guerrero mentioned he and Toronto had been “by no means shut” on an extension.
“I need to be a Blue Jay for the remainder of my profession. However it’s free company. It’s enterprise. I’m going to must hearken to 29 extra groups and so they’re going to must compete.”
Which makes the 2025 season an all-or-nothing endeavor for the Blue Jays, too. They signed Anthony Sanander to a giant free agent deal over the winter, inked Max Scherzer, and return a strong core of Bo Bichette, catcher Alejandro Kirk, whiz defenders Ernie Clement and Daulton Varsho, and a rotation fronted by Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios and Chris Bassitt, to not point out touchdown one of the best right-handed reliever in the marketplace in Jeff Hoffman.
It’s laborious to select them over the Yankees and maybe the Purple Sox within the AL East, however for Toronto, it’s now or by no means with Vlad.
Juan Soto, Meet the Mets
If there was ever a doubt how impactful one participant may very well be to a workforce, one ought to look no farther than the affect Soto had on the Yankees final season. They might not have superior to the World Collection with out him. He’s a generational offensive star, a sure-fire Corridor of Famer, and this yr he’ll start the primary of a 15-year, $765 million contract throughout city in Flushing for the Mets, who’re looking for their first World Collection title since Mookie Wilson knocked a dribbler via Invoice Buckner’s legs in 1986.
New York is coming off a shock postseason run that landed them within the Nationwide League Championship Collection, and rode that wave of momentum to a ridiculously busy low season. By re-signing Pete Alonso, Jesse Winker and Sean Manaea, proprietor Steve Cohen stored most of final season’s roster intact. Bullpen additions Clay Holmes, A.J. Minter and Ryne Stanek had been sensible additions, and the Mets’ pitching brains are hoping to repair Frankie Montas the way in which they remade Luis Severino and Montas a season in the past.
However these additions pale compared to touchdown the winter’s largest fish in Soto, a haul they hope will assist them overtake the Phillies and Braves within the common season in 2025.
Yankees Life With out Soto
In the meantime within the Bronx, the Yankees moved on from their divorce from Soto simply positive, spreading his cash across the roster.
They signed Max Fried to an eight-year deal (that’s a very very long time for a beginning pitcher, by the way in which) in addition to first baseman Paul Goldschmidt on a one-year contract, and pulled off two notable trades – Cody Bellinger from the Cubs and nearer Devin Williams from Milwaukee. One could make the argument that the roster could also be higher having unfold the cash round and bettering the pitching employees than by dumping all of it on the toes of Juan Soto.
That being mentioned, Soto’s bat might be dearly missed in the midst of that lineup. Giancarlo Stanton is already coping with a “mysterious damage,” tennis elbow in each elbows. It’s unclear how a lot time he’ll miss this spring. Aaron Choose is a machine, however even he proved fallible within the World Collection. The addition of Bellinger is sweet, however he’s not practically the identical sort of slugger Soto is. Can they get by with a center of the order that includes Jazz Chisholm, Choose, Goldschmidt, Bellinger and Stanton? Will they keep wholesome? Can their top-four starters – Gerrit Cole, Fried, Carlos Rodon and Luis Gil, make up the distinction in a aggressive AL East?
A New Period in Houston
Because the mid-2010s, the Houston Astros have been synonymous with the American League Championship Collection, however this might be a really different-looking Astros workforce than we’ve seen in latest seasons.
They traded Kyle Tucker and reliever Ryan Pressly early within the low season to the Cubs. Alex Bregman signed a free agent contract with the Purple Sox final week. Justin Verlander inked a one-year, $15 million contract with the Giants. Starter Yusei Kikuchi is now an Angel. And who is aware of how lengthy Framber Valdez goes to stay round? He’ll be a free agent on the finish of this season, too.
Houston nonetheless has some first rate expertise left. The cabinet shouldn’t be naked. Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez are excellent gamers, they signed third baseman Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker to free agent contracts, and nonetheless have shortstop Jeremy Pena hanging round, too. Ronel Blanco and Hunter Brown are a strong 2-3 within the rotation, and Josh Hader returns because the workforce’s nearer.
They’ve holes (have you ever seen the outfield???) and should still be adequate to win the AL West, but it surely’s clear a brand new period has begun in Houston.
The Well being of the Braves
Whenever you cease and suppose, it’s really a miracle the Braves made the postseason in any respect in 2024.
Spencer Strider was misplaced for the season after making only one wholesome begin. Ronal Acuna, Jr. tore his proper ACL and was misplaced for the season, too. Austin Riley fractured his hand in August, Sean Murphy missed practically two months with a strained indirect, Ozzie Albies was out two months in July and August with a wrist fracture and Michael Harris II’s hamstring landed him on the Injured Record for 2 months, too.
The Braves had been by no means going to have the ability to repeat their ridiculously productive offensive numbers from 2023, however final yr’s regression was past the pale, so you possibly can perceive Atlanta being bullish about their possibilities of successful a division that they had gained six straight occasions earlier than barely sneaking into the playoffs a season in the past.
The large query is, when can they count on Strider and Acuna Jr. again? It sounds as if neither might be prepared for Opening Day. Acuna Jr. doesn’t have a particular timetable, though the Braves say he’s on schedule in his restoration. It feels like someday in Might. Strider has began throwing bullpens, however doubtless gained’t return to the rotation till the top of April. Can they hold in there till their two finest gamers are again within the swing of issues?
Cubs Off-Season Additions Sufficient?
Milwaukee has gained three out of the final 4 NL Central titles and have largely dominated this division over the past half decade. The final time the Cubs gained the division was in Pandemic 2020, and their final playoff victory was in 2017, after they reached the NLCS.
Chicago hasn’t spent a ton of cash, however has had one of many busiest off-seasons this facet of Los Angeles. They added the second-most impactful participant to alter groups in Kyle Tucker, an enormous improve over Bellinger, in addition to Pressly to the bullpen. Smaller additions, like catcher Carson Kelly and reliever Ryan Brasier, assist fill out the roster across the edges.
In a yr wherein the Brewers misplaced Corbin Burnes, Willy Adames and Devin Williams, the Cardinals look like wandering within the land of .500 and the Reds and Pirates seemingly nonetheless a yr or two away from actually competing, the Cubs have one of the best likelihood at snagging a mediocre division in 2025.
Wage Cap Discuss
A lot of the winter’s discourse surrounded baseball’s financial system, the Dodgers’ wild spending spree, the Soto contract, and the seeming disparity in assets between the so-called “wealthy” and “poor” groups. The collapse of practically a dozen regional sports activities community offers have thrown some franchises right into a tizzy, however the bigger situation is there are some groups that merely don’t need to pay what’s required to place a aggressive workforce on the sector. Most fanbases don’t need to see the Dodgers turn out to be a dynastic Tremendous Staff just like the Yankees and Purple Sox had been within the Nineties and 2000s, and so they imagine a wage cap may very well be a method to maintain groups just like the Dodgers, Mets, Phillies and Yankees from lapping the remainder of the game when it comes to payroll.
In fact, dialog can even flip to a wage flooring to accompany any potential cap, and the participant’s union has vowed to by no means enable a wage cap to be applied of their sport. It’s cheap to imagine the house owners will both lock out the gamers after the 2026 season, or the gamers will strike beforehand, with a view to forestall this from taking place.
It’s a low rumble proper now, however positively a dialog that’s being had this spring.
Balls and Strikes Problem System
In sure spring coaching ballparks, Main League Baseball will check an computerized balls and strikes problem system that may very well be coming to each MLB stadium beginning subsequent yr. Briefly, if a pitcher, catcher or batter disagrees with a ball or strike name by the house plate umpire, they will problem that decision. A video on a scoreboard will then present whether or not the trail of the pitcher crossed the plate within the strike zone.
Every workforce will solely get two challenges per sport, and one of many issues to be ironed out this spring would be the velocity at which the problem takes place and the way dependable the system might be. However barring something going haywire, it’s doubtless this might be a preview of what’s to return in 2026.
It’s not precisely robotic umps, but it surely’s a begin.
