The Tremendous Bowl is now greater than per week within the rear view mirror and, for Eagles followers like myself, I’m nonetheless not carried out 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 high 10 storylines as gamers filter into camp and the faux video games get underway!
Simply How Good Will the Dodgers Be?
Final 12 months’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 because the 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 not less than 15 video games within the NL West, L.A. this low season determined to easily purchase every thing accessible not named Juan Soto. They received 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 house one other World Collection trophy. Oh, and Shohei Ohtani is more likely to return to the mound, too.
The final crew to repeat as World Collection champions are the 2000 New York Yankees, carried out 1 / 4 century in the past. So certain, the Dodgers are completely loaded. They received the low season and seem to don’t have 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 ought to be a runaway common season for Los Angeles.
Bryce Harper’s Elusive First Title
This can be Harper’s seventh season in Phillies’ pinstripes. Now 32 years previous, he’s nonetheless an elite bat and has became 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 received actually shut in 2022, falling two wins brief in opposition to the Houston Astros. With every successive 12 months, Philadelphia has fallen one step shorter.
The franchise ought to have received a title sooner or later throughout Harper’s six-year run, so getting into 12 months No. 7, the strain to take action has by no means been better. Not solely that, your complete core is growing 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 is no such thing as a assure of that. One can’t assist however really feel the 2025 season could also be this specific core’s final, greatest shot to lastly convey house the Phils’ first World Collection title in 17 years.
There is no such thing as a crew in baseball below extra strain to win the World Collection than this Phillies crew.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr’s Future
One of many prizes of subsequent 12 months’s free agent class seems to be Toronto’s Vladimir Guerreror, Jr., the Blue Jays’ slugging first baseman, who could also be enjoying his ultimate 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 have 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 should take heed to 29 extra groups they usually’re going to should 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 the very best right-handed reliever in the marketplace in Jeff Hoffman.
It’s arduous to choose them over the Yankees and maybe the Pink 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 might be to a crew, one ought to look no farther than the affect Soto had on the Yankees final season. They’d not have superior to the World Collection with out him. He’s a generational offensive star, a sure-fire Corridor of Famer, and this 12 months he’ll start the primary of a 15-year, $765 million contract throughout city in Flushing for the Mets, who’re in search of 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 have been sensible additions, and the Mets’ pitching brains are hoping to repair Frankie Montas the best way they remade Luis Severino and Montas a season in the past.
However these additions pale compared to touchdown the winter’s greatest 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 superb, 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 best way) 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 workers than by dumping all of it on the toes of Juan Soto.
That being mentioned, Soto’s bat can 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 Decide is a machine, however even he proved fallible within the World Collection. The addition of Bellinger is good, however he’s not practically the identical type of slugger Soto is. Can they get by with a center of the order that includes Jazz Chisholm, Decide, 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 can be a really different-looking Astros crew than we’ve seen in current 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 Pink 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 just isn’t 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 crew’s nearer.
They’ve holes (have you ever seen the outfield???) and should still be adequate to win the AL West, nevertheless it’s clear a brand new period has begun in Houston.
The Well being of the Braves
Whenever you cease and assume, 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 Checklist for 2 months, too.
The Braves have been by no means going to have the ability to repeat their ridiculously productive offensive numbers from 2023, however final 12 months’s regression was past the pale, so you’ll be able to perceive Atlanta being bullish about their probabilities of successful a division that they had received six straight instances earlier than barely sneaking into the playoffs a season in the past.
The large query is, when can they anticipate Strider and Acuna Jr. again? It sounds as if neither can be prepared for Opening Day. Acuna Jr. doesn’t have a selected timetable, though the Braves say he’s on schedule in his restoration. It appears like someday in Could. Strider has began throwing bullpens, however possible received’t return to the rotation till the top of April. Can they dangle in there till their two greatest gamers are again within the swing of issues?
Cubs Off-Season Additions Sufficient?
Milwaukee has received 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 received 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 12 months wherein the Brewers misplaced Corbin Burnes, Willy Adames and Devin Williams, the Cardinals seem like wandering within the land of .500 and the Reds and Pirates seemingly nonetheless a 12 months or two away from actually competing, the Cubs have the very 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 problem is there are some groups that merely don’t need to pay what’s required to place a aggressive crew on the sector. Most fanbases don’t need to see the Dodgers change into a dynastic Tremendous Group just like the Yankees and Pink Sox have been within the Nineteen Nineties and 2000s, they usually consider a wage cap might be a method to maintain groups just like the Dodgers, Mets, Phillies and Yankees from lapping the remainder of the game by way of payroll.
In fact, dialog may even flip to a wage ground to accompany any potential cap, and the participant’s union has vowed to by no means permit a wage cap to be applied of their sport. It’s affordable to consider the house owners will both lock out the gamers after the 2026 season, or the gamers will strike beforehand, with a purpose to stop this from occurring.
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 take a look at an automated balls and strikes problem system that might be coming to each MLB stadium beginning subsequent 12 months. In brief, 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 crew 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 can be. However barring something going haywire, it’s possible this can be a preview of what’s to return in 2026.
It’s not precisely robotic umps, nevertheless it’s a begin.