Ranking the 15 Biggest Storylines for the 2015 MLB Season
There are hundreds of storylines to pay attention to in the 2015 Major League Baseball season. Literally hundreds, as in more than just one hundred. And ideally, you would pay attention to all of them.
But who has the time, right? Let's do our busy selves a favor and focus on the big ones, narrowing things down to a more appropriate number.
It's hard to get more appropriate than 15 for 2015. And with this being the Internet, we're going to take the top 15 storylines—which range from teams on the rise to returning heroes to returning villains to star players doing star player things—for the 2015 season and rank them from least interesting to most interesting.
Step into the box whenever you're ready.
15. Who's Next to Snap a Postseason Drought?
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Thanks mainly to the addition of the second wild card and a more even distribution of spending power, parity is the name of the game in MLB today. And for a lucky few in the last three years, that has meant a long-awaited return to the postseason.
The Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals snapped droughts in 2012. The Pittsburgh Pirates went back in 2013. The Kansas City Royals not only went back to the postseason in 2014 but ultimately came within one swing of Salvador Perez's bat of winning the World Series.
So, whose turn will it be in 2015?
The two longest postseason droughts belong to the Toronto Blue Jays (21 years) and Seattle Mariners (13 years), and both are geared up to be in the thick of the American League pennant chase. That goes double for the Mariners, who look like the team to beat in the AL West. If not them, don't rule out the Miami Marlins snapping their 11-year drought.
If they do, it'll probably culminate in a World Series championship. Going off their history, the buggers don't know how to play in October without winning the darn thing.
14. How Will the Big-Name Foreign Imports Fare?
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In keeping with the theme of how things have changed, there's no ignoring the recent influx of international talent. In 2012, it was Yoenis Cespedes and Yu Darvish. In 2013, Yasiel Puig and Hyun-Jin Ryu. In 2014, it was Jose Abreu and Masahiro Tanaka.
For fans, this has meant a heaping helping of super-fun-happy times. And if Rusney Castillo, Yasmany Tomas and Jung Ho Kang are up to the challenge, more fun times are in order for 2015.
Castillo is a 27-year-old Cuban center fielder who signed a $72.5 million contract with the Boston Red Sox late last summer. And though it's already been decided that he'll begin the season in the minors, his plus speed and solid bat give him the tools to be a star.
Tomas is a 24-year-old old Cuban slugger who signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks for $68.5 million. And though he'll also be starting 2015 in the minors, his immense power should find its way onto highlight reels eventually.
As for Kang, he's a 28-year-old shortstop from Korea who signed an $11 million contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. That gave the Pirates a shortstop who slugged 40 home runs in Korea last year, and the talent that made that possible might actually translate to the majors.
These three have hard acts to follow, all right. But if they live up to their talent, baseball will once again have an international flavor.
13. Can the Red Sox Complete the Worst-to-First-to-Worst-to-First Circuit?
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The Red Sox have mastered their impression of a yo-yo. They hit a low with 93 losses in 2012, then a high with 97 wins and a World Series title in 2013 and then another low with 91 losses in 2014.
If the pattern holds, the Red Sox are in for another high in 2015. And judging from their offseason activity, that's the idea.
The Red Sox completely remade themselves over the winter. They dropped about $200 million to add Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez to what was already a solid lineup and also brought in a trio of starting pitchers in Rick Porcello, Wade Miley and Justin Masterson.
Beyond the new additions, the Red Sox also have some new blood set to contribute in 2015.
The aforementioned Castillo figures to make a difference in Boston's outfield once he gets up to speed. Young center fielder Mookie Betts is drawing rave reviews after a torrid spring. If Christian Vazquez's Tommy John operation is good for anything, it's clearing the way for Blake Swihart.
But do the Red Sox actually have a good team, or is it all just East-Coast-bias-y hype?
The projections side squarely with the former. Whether you consult Baseball Prospectus or FanGraphs, the Red Sox are projected to win the AL East. If time proves them wise...well, long live the yo-yo pattern.
12. How Will Giancarlo Stanton Celebrate His Megacontract?
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When 2014 ended, Giancarlo Stanton had earned less than $8.5 million in five major league seasons. Now he has as much as $325 million coming his way over the next 13 years.
That's the size of his new contract extension, of which 2015 will be the opening act. So, Mr. Stanton, what do you have for us?
Potentially something really big if his 2014 season is any indication. Stanton's league-leading 37 home runs also came with a career-high .395 on-base percentage, 13 stolen bases and, per the metrics, above-average defense in right field. He could have won the National League MVP, and he darn near did.
There is some uncertainty surrounding Stanton's 2015 season, however. Beyond the burden of his new megacontract, he's looking to move past a brutal hit-by-pitch that ended his 2014 season early. He is also expected to carry the load for a Marlins team that has eyes on contention.
The heat, as they say, is on. The words of ESPN.com's Buster Olney ring true: "In the past, a Stanton slump was like a tree falling in a forest—nobody heard it—but now everybody will notice."
You know what you have to do, Giancarlo. Go now and win the crowd.
11. Will the Phillies Phinally Phind a Phit* for Cole Hamels?
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A Cole Hamels trade was baseball's Half-Life 3 this past winter. Everybody wanted it, but the men in charge just kept saying "nope."
But that should change sometime this summer.
This offseason, the Phillies made no secret of the fact that they were hunkering down for a long rebuilding phase. They made some moves to aid the effort, but not the one move that could have aided it more than any other. Supposedly, they were simply demanding too much in Hamels trade talks, according to WEEI.com's Rob Bradford (via SB Nation's Marc Normandin).
But the Phillies could have an easier time getting teams to take their terms seriously as the summer moves along. Needs for pitching are going to arise, and those needs are going to increase Philly's leverage. The more leverage the Phillies have, the more likely a trade will become.
Provided, of course, Hamels remains himself for long enough. That's where there's some uncertainty, as neither good health nor his usual ace-like production is guaranteed in what will be his age-31 season.
So, the Phillies seem destined for an all-or-nothing outcome. Either they'll get a king's ransom for Hamels, or something will happen and they'll get nothing.
*I'm so, so sorry about this.
10. Will the Pace of Play Rules Work?
6 of 15![Yes, that's a clock. In a baseball game. [Twilight Zone theme].](https://legacymedia.sportsplatform.io/img/slides/photos/003/941/899/0f209f260e7771cf00dd44530ec224f3_crop_exact.jpg?w=684 "Yes, that's a clock. In a baseball game. [Twilight Zone theme].")
Rob Manfred's first big message as the commissioner of MLB? That can be summed up in four words: Hurry the heck up.
If you missed it, new rules are in place for 2015 that are designed to speed up the game. These call for batters to keep one foot in the box at all most times, and the activities in between innings and other stoppages will now be precisely timed.
Necessary? That's entirely up to you and your viewing preferences.
But well-timed? Without a doubt.
As Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe highlighted, the average baseball game lasted just two hours and 40 minutes as recently as 1984. But in 2014, the average game took over three hours. At a time when pretty much everything else in modern life is moving faster and faster, baseball is slowing down.
Whether the new rules will be able to reverse that trend remains to be seen. But for what it's worth, a check-in midway through spring training revealed the average game to be taking about two hours and 50 minutes. That's not necessarily predictive of a similar pace in the regular season, but it's a start.
For good measure, though, baseball's organists should start practicing some hurry-up music. Just in case.
9. Will the Offensive Free Fall Continue?
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Pace of play isn't the only league-trend-ish storyline to watch in 2015. There's also the league's hitting talent. Or, increasingly, lack thereof.
As evidenced by last year's average of 4.07 runs per game and collective .314 OBP, nobody can hit anymore. There are several reasons why this is happening. Pitchers are throwing harder and to a much larger strike zone, so strikeouts are way up. And in 2014, no hitter was safe from defensive shifts.
The only question now: Does baseball have to do something about this, or will the game correct itself?
For now, the latter is possible. There's been plenty of talk about hitters adjusting to shifts, and some are thinking of adjusting to the strikeout problem by becoming more aggressive.
Take, for example, reigning American League MVP Mike Trout, who told Bob Nightengale of USA Today: "I'm trying to be more aggressive [this spring], and I think it's helped me. I usually always took a strike, and saw a lot of pitchers throughout the day, but if that pitch is there, I'm swinging."
So, look for hitters swinging more aggressively and making an effort to hit it where they ain't in 2015.
If that doesn't work, an intervention may be needed.
8. What Does Alex Rodriguez Have Left?
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We were all bracing for the worst with Alex Rodriguez. At 39 years old and coming off a season-long suspension in 2014, there was just no way he would pull his weight in 2015.
But then a funny thing happened: A-Rod actually had a pretty good spring.
He entered the weekend hitting .286 with a .924 OPS and three home runs in 18 spring games—pretty good stuff for an aging player whose last productive season happened back in 2010. He's also been a model citizen, causing no distractions whatsoever.
"I feel like it's a bigger reaction from you guys," veteran left-hander CC Sabathia told Erik Boland of Newsday. "For us, he's coming back to the team. He served his suspension, and it's pretty much over."
Where the stage was once set for a disaster of a season, it now seems to be set for a renaissance season—one in which A-Rod will get the 61 hits he needs to reach 3,000 and more than the six home runs he needs to tie Willie Mays on the all-time home run leaderboard.
...Unless this is all too good to be true, of course. Given that this is only spring training, it might be. And if it is, Rodriguez's 2015 season could well turn into the train wreck that many have been expecting.
Either way, there won't be any dull moments. This is A-Rod, after all.
7. Does Gotham Have Its Dark Knight Back?
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The hero Gotham deserves? The hero Gotham needs? Whatever the case, Matt Harvey was all of these things in the midst of posting a 2.27 ERA and striking out 191 batters in 178.1 innings in 2013.
And now he might be again. The New York Mets right-hander missed the entire 2014 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, but he's back now. And looking good too.
In six spring starts, Harvey pitched to a 1.19 ERA and a 21-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 22.2 innings, showing off his usual mid-to-high 90s fastball as well as three devastating secondaries.
Not surprisingly, Mets skipper Terry Collins is giddy.
“We came in hoping to find out what we have, and we’ve got the same guy we saw two years ago,” Collins told Mike Puma of the New York Post. “We’re excited to get him out there when the games start.”
Harvey's 2015 outlook does come with strings attached, mind you. The Mets are going to watch his innings like a hawk. If he crosses 200 innings, it will be because of extra work in October.
Fortunately for them, that might happen. They have a solid team around Harvey, and it will look all the more solid if their Dark Knight returns.
6. Clayton Kershaw Can't Possibly Get Any Better, Right?
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Just when you thought Clayton Kershaw couldn't get any better, he went and did what he did in 2014.
Despite missing a month early on with an upper-back injury, Kershaw logged 198.1 innings in 27 starts and led the league in complete games (six), ERA (1.77), FIP (1.81), strikeouts per nine innings (10.8) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.71). In the middle of it all was a 15-strikeout no-hitter that ranks among the best pitching performances ever.
Now that we've picked our jaws up off the floor, let's ask: How the heck is Kershaw supposed to top that?
Maybe he won't. After turning his slider into one of the game's elite pitches last year, maybe he'll finally turn his changeup into something more than a show-me pitch. But without that, he might not be able to improve on the strikeout spike that had such a big hand in his 2014 dominance.
But then, perhaps further improvement isn't up to Kershaw. Maybe it will come courtesy of his teammates.
Kershaw is going to have two things in 2015 that he's not used to having. One is an elite strike framer, as Baseball Prospectus' 2014 figures put new Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal among MLB's best. Another is strong up-the-middle defense thanks to the additions of Jimmy Rollins, Howie Kendrick and Joc Pederson.
Kershaw with extra strikes and extra outs? Good luck with that, National League.
5. Which Mike Trout Will Show Up?
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We haven't known Mike Trout long, but now we know there are two sides to him.
One is the do-everything side. That's the side we saw in 2012 and 2013, in which Trout hit .324 with 57 home runs and 82 stolen bases while holding down center field with plus defense.
And then there's the lesser hit-ball-really-hard side of Trout. That's the side we saw in 2014. Trout hit a career-high 36 home runs but with only a .287 average, 16 stolen bases and subpar defense.
Of course, the lesser of Trout's two sides was still good enough to win the AL MVP. If that's the side that shows up in 2015, the Angels aren't going to plummet too far from their 98-win romp in 2014.
If we all had our druthers, though, do-everything Trout will be the one who shows up in 2015. And fortunately, it sounds like us and him have common druthers.
As Trout told Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times, his goals for 2015 include stealing more bases and cutting down on the strikeouts that killed his batting average in 2014. If he succeeds, he'll look suspiciously like the greatest young player ever.
In other words: himself.
4. Will the Nationals' Rotation Go Down in History?
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Exiting 2014, the last thing the Washington Nationals appeared to need was an ace starting pitcher. Their starters had just led baseball with a 3.04 ERA, and all the members of the band would be back in 2015.
So, of course they went and signed 2013 American League Cy Young winner Max Scherzer. Because why settle for an awesome rotation when you can have a potentially historic one?
Obligatory Acknowledgement Alert: Washington's rotation actually becoming historic is no sure thing. If nothing else, you never know when the injury bug will bite pitchers. And when it does, it bites hard.
But if it does stay healthy...
Oh, it could definitely be good. Scherzer and Jordan Zimmermann are at the top of their game right now. Stephen Strasburg is an elite pitcher even with an utter inability to limit hard contact. Doug Fister isn't as good as last year's 2.41 ERA indicates, but he might be baseball's best No. 4 starter. Gio Gonzalez, meanwhile, might be baseball's best No. 5 starter.
The kicker is that the Nationals have Tanner Roark in the wings if somebody does go down. After he posted a 2.85 ERA in 198.2 innings last year, it's absurd that he's Washington's "rotation depth."
So keep that history book open and a pen at the ready. They might be needed.
3. What Will Rob Manfred Do with Pete Rose?
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It's been over 25 years since Pete Rose was permanently banned from baseball for betting on the game. But from the sound of things, might baseball soon put its own spin on the word "permanently"?
Possibly. The all-time hit king has made a formal request for reinstatement to new commissioner Rob Manfred, who is at least open to the idea. In an interview with NBC News, he said that Rose deserves a "fair, full hearing."
Certainly, this counts as progress in light of how Rose got nowhere while Bud Selig was in office. And if he were to be reinstated, there would be an audible chorus of cheers. Rose was never without supporters, but their numbers seem to have grown thanks simply to the passing of time and, perhaps, due to his crime against baseball looking petty in the wake of the steroid era.
This is not to say, however, that Manfred doesn't need to tread carefully.
Though there may be a strong sentiment in favor of reinstating Rose, there's still an equally strong sentiment in favor of keeping him out. And if granting his reinstatement comes down to finding holes in the investigation that first got him banned, well, good luck with that.
One way or another, a decision doesn't seem to be forthcoming. This could be a season-long game of "Will They or Won't They?"
2. Will the White Sox's and Padres' Offseason Shopping Sprees Pay Off?
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The Chicago White Sox and San Diego Padres combined to go 289-359 in 2013 and 2014, cementing themselves as afterthoughts on the national landscape.
But after what they did over the winter, they're heading into 2015 high up on a lot of watch lists.
The White Sox went all-out, trading for Jeff Samardzija and signing David Robertson, Melky Cabrera and Adam LaRoche as free agents. With these guys taking their place next to stars like Jose Abreu, Chris Sale and Jose Quintana, the White Sox are eyeing an AL Central crown in 2015.
As for the Padres, they went double-all-out. In trading for Justin Upton, Matt Kemp, Wil Meyers, Derek Norris and Will Middlebrooks and signing James Shields, they nabbed enough star power to force their way into the NL West's high-rent district next to the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers.
At the least, what the White Sox and Padres have done is make themselves relevant. As for making good on the hype between the lines, that part may be more difficult. The projections referenced earlier don't have the White Sox or Padres running away with playoff spots in 2015.
The White Sox and Padres have met the challenge of becoming relevant. Now they have to meet the challenge of staying relevant.
1. Can Kris Bryant Make Good on the Hype? Can the Cubs?
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We come now, at last, to the one player and the one team facing higher expectations than any other player or any other team: Kris Bryant and the Chicago Cubs.
Bryant is the talk of baseball these days, and for good reasons. The 23-year-old third baseman pushed his way to the top of prospect rankings everywhere with a .325 average, 1.098 OPS and 43 home runs in the minors in 2014, and then he slugged nine home runs in spring training.
It's a big gosh-darn controversy that Bryant is not starting the season in the majors, but it's an open secret that he should be up as soon as mid-April. And once he is, the 2015 Cubs will look complete.
Next to Bryant, they'll have quality hitters like Jorge Soler, Starlin Castro, Anthony Rizzo, Dexter Fowler and Miguel Montero in their lineup as well. They'll also have a starting staff led by two of 2014's best pitchers in Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta, and the rest of their mound staff isn't too shabby either.
The Cubs are riding a string of five straight seasons of at least 87 losses, not to mention a championship drought older than Wrigley Field itself. But now they have the look of a contender, and the projections and the Cubs themselves believe they will be.
At long last, this could finally be next year.
Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.
