1 Sentence to Describe Every MLB Team Entering Spring Training 2025
January is long gone. The Super Bowl is over and done with. And in certain parts, it's warm enough to play baseball.
Clearly, it's time for spring training.
Since pitchers and catchers are indeed reporting this week, it's a good time to properly introduce all 30 teams ahead of the 2025 Major League Baseball season.
So, we're going to do that by describing them in just one sentence.
Mind you, there isn't much point in dropping the sentences and leaving it at that. It would be a dereliction of duty if there was no accompanying analysis. As such, each sentence is accompanied by a blurb of 100 words or so.
Let's check teams off in alphabetical order and go three at a time.
Arizona Diamondbacks, Athletics, Atlanta Braves
1 of 10
Arizona Diamondbacks
Underestimate this team at your own peril.
Hesitant to hop aboard the 2025 Diamondbacks bandwagon? That is fair, given that they have the rotten luck of sharing the NL West with the Dodgers.
Still, there's a lot of fun waiting to be had with this team.
Even sans Christian Walker and Joc Pederson, the Snakes should be an offensive powerhouse after leading MLB in scoring in 2024. And when Corbin Burnes is a No. 1 starter and Jordan Montgomery is a No. 6 starter, that is simply a good rotation.
Athletics
This is the most interesting team that nobody will be watching in 2025.
The A's were more competent than anyone could have expected in 2024. After back-to-back seasons of 100-plus losses, they pulled off a 19-win swing from 2023 and generally showcased some intriguing rising stars.
Those stars—namely Brent Rooker, Lawrence Butler and Mason Miller—are back for 2025, and it's the shocker of all shockers that the A's actually spent money on free agents this offseason. Just short of $81 million, in fact.
Alas, it's a shame that nobody will be watching in 2025. Oakland-based fans have no reason to be loyal to this franchise, and its new digs in Sacramento can only accommodate about 14,000 fans.
Atlanta Braves
All their chips are on players returning from major surgeries.
This is an exaggeration. The Braves have an outstanding roster in general, to a point where FanGraphs projects them to easily win the NL East.
It is nonetheless fair for Braves fans to have a sense of unease coming out of what was mostly a quiet offseason. Ultimately, said roster is largely the same one that fell short of expectations in producing just 89 wins in 2024.
A better outcome is contingent on Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider returning to their 2023 forms. It's a fingers-crossed thing, as Acuña is coming back from a second ACL tear and Strider is coming back from a second major elbow surgery.
Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs
2 of 10
Baltimore Orioles
This is a very good team that is frustratingly not even better.
The Orioles have won an American League-high 192 games over the last two seasons, and now their payroll is set to skyrocket by $58 million in their first full year under owner David Rubenstein. So, what's not to like?
Well, how about the sense that the overall talent level of this team has stagnated and arguably even regressed?
The O's suffered a 10-loss swing from 2023 to 2024, after all, and their replacements for free-agent departees Corbin Burnes (Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano) and Anthony Santander (Tyler O'Neill) are underwhelming. As a result, them winning the AL East this year feels like a borderline long-shot.
Boston Red Sox
They've made small hop to contention when a larger leap was possible.
The Red Sox should have an elite rotation this year. They already had Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford and Lucas Giolito set to return from elbow surgery. Now they have Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler, each of whom has ace upside.
But is anyone else worried about this offense?
The front three of Jarren Duran, Rafael Devers and Triston Casas is enviable, but there's a dropoff after them and the lineup in general is overly left-handed. There's still time to add an Alex Bregman or a Nolan Arenado, and the reality is that Boston may need both to be a legit championship contender.
Chicago Cubs
Just imagine what this club could do with a little more payroll.
The Cubs will be good. They finally have a legit superstar after trading for Kyle Tucker, and FanGraphs otherwise sees this as the strongest roster in the NL Central.
Still, dare we call attention to how the Cubs are slated to spend $37 million less on payroll than they did in 2024?
Somewhere out there is Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts saying, "Shh, shut up." But it's the truth, and it feels like an arrow pointed in the direction of disappointment. At this point, the only good way to take a hatchet to it is to sign Alex Bregman.
Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians
3 of 10
Chicago White Sox
Don't think it can't get worse.
The White Sox lost 121 games last season. It's a modern record, and it shook owner Jerry Reinsdorf so bad that he reportedly began discussions to sell the team.
As for whether the White Sox can possibly be worse in 2025, the answer is somewhere between "almost certainly not" and "maybe, actually."
It's not as if the overall talent level of the roster has gone up, as the best player the White Sox added this winter is probably veteran lefty Martín Pérez. It's also just a matter of time before trades starting happening, with Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Vaughn representing obvious candidates to go.
Cincinnati Reds
What does Terry Francona know that the rest of us don't?
It was the Reds who pulled the first surprise of the offseason. Indeed, the 2024 playoffs weren't even over when they announced Terry Francona as their new manager.
The Reds made some savvy moves (especially trading for Gavin Lux) to build up the roster Francona will be handling in 2025. But it still comes across looking under-manned, and with no small degree of volatility to boot.
Yet Francona has faced worse odds, such as when he went to Cleveland in 2012 and turned a 94-loss team into a 92-win team in 2013. As the Reds only lost 85 games in 2024, the task at hand could prove to be too easy for the future Hall of Famer.
Cleveland Guardians
The only good bet for 90 wins in the AL Central.
The Guardians don't look better after all the nipping and tucking they did during the winter. Of note is that they no longer have Josh Naylor's 30-homer power and Andrés Giménez's Gold Glove defense.
Still, they'll probably be fine.
"Fine" is more or less this franchise's default, as you have to go back to 2012 to find the last time it had a truly disastrous season. It doesn't hurt to have arguably MLB's most consistent star in José Ramírez, who's averaged 6 WAR for the last eight years.
Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros
4 of 10
Colorado Rockies
They seem to be aiming for a third straight 100-loss season.
It is not common for a team to suffer three 100-loss seasons in a row, but it does happen. The most recent club to "accomplish" this was the Astros of 2011-13.
"Hold my Coors," is what the Rockies seem to be saying heading into 2025.
After not doing so even once between 1993 and 2022, they lost 100 games in both 2023 and 2024. And now they're pegged by FanGraphs for 97 losses, which almost feels generous in light of a $24 million reduction in payroll.
Detroit Tigers
Last year was (hopefully) not a fluke.
Though the Tigers made the playoffs and advanced to the ALDS last season, they were only a good team for about six weeks as they went 29-12 between August 23 and October 12.
The club has since had an underwhelming offseason, signing Jack Flaherty, Gleyber Torres and Alex Cobb while (so far) steering clear of the really big fish on the market.
This said, Tigers fans should be confident that last season can be built on. Those additions will help, after all, and Jackson Jobe is but one piece in the club's third-ranked farm system that is standing by to help as needed.
Houston Astros
These are not your slightly older sibling's Astros.
The Astros made the playoffs in 2024, because of course they did. The postseason has been their turf in each of the last eight seasons, all but one of which saw them advance at least to the ALCS.
Of course, the one exception happened just last season. And it was a mere 88-win campaign for Houston, which had previously cranked out 100-win seasons like proverbial clockwork.
These already feel like the good ol' days, and it's hard to imagine said days making a roaring comeback in 2025. This is still a good team, but it would look a heck of a lot better if Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman were still around.
Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers
5 of 10
Kansas City Royals
Let's see how far one superstar and a good pitching staff can take a team.
Among surprise 2024 contenders, the Royals differed from the Tigers in that they were in it from start to finish. They were never more than two games below .500.
Yet the '24 Royals were always a clearly flawed contender, particularly where their offense was concerned. Their only big move on this front was to swap Brady Singer for Jonathan India and, buddy, that's just not it.
As such, the question once again is how far Bobby Witt Jr. and what was arguably MLB's best starting rotation in 2024 can take the Royals in 2025. To this end, at least we all know how high the bar goes.
Los Angeles Angels
No, really, they're trying to contend.
When the offseason began, Angels owner Arte Moreno made it clear that he wanted to contend in 2025. You therefore have to hand it to him for OK'ing a series of high-profile additions, including Yusei Kikuchi and Jorge Soler.
But you know what the Angels still are? Bad. Very bad.
FanGraphs has them down for another last-place finish in 2025, and it's hard to argue the notion. Maybe if Mike Trout stays healthy and the Angels have a spare Shohei Ohtani sitting in a broom closet somewhere, but both seem doubtful.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Kneel before your MLB overlords.
There would be tremendous hype around the Dodgers even if all they were was the reigning World Series champions. Such teams always have that right.
What we have here, though, is a reigning champ that was so bombastic in its offseason maneuvering that even commissioner Rob Manfred has had to weigh in on whether the Dodgers are breaking baseball.
That charge is (mostly) misguided, but the truth either way is that the Dodgers are going into 2025 with a frankly intimidating level of talent. It'll be an upset if they don't end MLB's 23-year drought of repeat champs.
Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins
6 of 10
Miami Marlins
At least Sandy Alcantara is back...for now.
What a sad sack of a franchise. The Marlins cycled through a record number of players in losing 100 games in 2024, and their offseason activity amounts to a 404 error.
It'll be nice to have Alcantara back, though. The 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner is due to return from Tommy John surgery, meaning the Marlins will have a proper No. 1 atop their rotation if he's the same pitcher he used to be.
But how long will Alcantara be for Miami if that is the case? Probably not long, as cashing in his value could go a long way toward helping a farm system that needs all it can get.
Milwaukee Brewers
They look like an underdog, but that's sort of their thing.
The Brewers won the NL Central by 10 games over Chicago and St. Louis in 2024, but this was with Willy Adames and Devin Williams. They're gone now, and the hole left by Corbin Burnes after 2023 still hasn't been filled.
All this should be alarming, but it feels like a classic Brewers trap.
Though they have rarely felt like favorites, Milwaukee has made the playoffs six times in the last seven seasons. It should surprise nobody if they ultimately go 7-for-8, if for no other reason than Jackson Chourio A) exists and B) is awesome.
Minnesota Twins
Please be patient as they seek out new management.
For anyone who didn't keep up with the Twins' activity on the free-agent market, well, there isn't much to tell. They spent less than $10 million on depth pieces.
It isn't the most inspiring outcome, but it's also not surprising. Crunching payroll was the name of the game for the Twins in 2024, and the club was promptly put up for sale after the regular season was over.
A sale could go through before Opening Day, according to Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Which is good, because it's only after that happens that Twins fans will be even be able to consider long-term optimism for the franchise.
New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies
7 of 10
New York Mets
Is this the best team $1 billion can buy?
As the Mets are projected to carry a $331 million payroll, this is not literally a $1 billion team. But since that's how much they spent in free agency, let's just roll with it.
Anyway, expectations are through the roof. Getting Juan Soto alone would have assured as much. But for good measure, the Mets re-signed Pete Alonso and Sean Manaea and made key additions with Clay Holmes, Frankie Montas and A.J. Minter.
FanGraphs only sees an 87-win roster, however, and it doesn't take a good set of eyes to see what could go wrong. As deep as the offense is, the pitching staff has more volatility than it probably should.
New York Yankees
No Juan Soto, no problem?
After forming an all-time offensive duo with Aaron Judge in 2024, Soto is gone now. Some will say that the Yankees are better for it, as the additions of Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt, Max Fried and Devin Williams can replace Soto in the aggregate.
It's not an unreasonable take, but something here doesn't feel right.
The defending AL champs are projected to win just 87 games by FanGraphs, and the fault lines aren't subtle. Bellinger and Goldschmidt are past their primes, and Judge (33), Gerrit Cole (34) and Giancarlo Stanton (35) will be in their mid-30s this year.
Philadelphia Phillies
They'll try to be the best team in MLB all over again.
In 2024, the Phillies neither finished with the best record nor won the World Series. But in case anyone's forgotten the sheer talent of that team, it did lead MLB in WAR.
The Phillies are set to run it back with basically the same club, only now it has Jesús Luzardo, Max Kepler and Jordan Romano. Marginal improvements, perhaps, but that's arguably all they needed.
Regardless, the question here isn't whether the Phillies can improve on their regular-season record for a fifth straight season. It's whether they can reverse their diminishing returns in October, which will surely be a greater challenge.
Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants
8 of 10
Pittsburgh Pirates
Watch them waste Paul Skenes in real time!
If Skenes isn't the best pitcher in MLB, he might at least be the most magnetic. Dude was the No. 1 pick in 2023 and had a record-breaking Rookie of the Year in 2024.
Pirates fans should be darn glad to have Skenes, because it's not as if there are a ton of other reasons to tune in these days. Even Skenes couldn't keep the Bucs out of last place in 2024, and this winter has been yet another exercise in rank cheapness.
The 22-year-old Skenes will be eligible for arbitration in 2027. Since that is when he will start getting expensive, it's also worth circling as a general timeframe for when his name could start appearing in trade rumors.
San Diego Padres
Manny Machado is (rightfully) not impressed.
“Are we disappointed we haven’t made any moves? Yeah."
That was Machado's remark at the Padres' FanFest, and who can blame him? As the Dodgers strengthened their grip on the NL West, the Padres lost Tanner Scott, Jurickson Profar and Ha-Seong Kim and basically sat out free agency otherwise.
It's still a good team the Padres have, but the greatness they teased last year in winning 93 games and nearly ousting the Dodgers from October figures to be harder to achieve. And the lesson is this: a dysfunctional ownership group is good for nobody.
San Francisco Giants
They've sunk a lot of effort and money into what still looks like a .500 roster.
The Giants are clearly sick of finishing right around .500. Which, apart from a 107-win season in 2021, has been the franchise's lot in life for the 2020s so far.
In the front office, Farhan Zaidi is out and Buster Posey and Zack Minasian are in. And for $348 million, the Giants have extended Matt Chapman and signed Willy Adames and Justin Verlander.
And yet, FanGraphs only projects the Giants to go 81-81. That's right, exactly .500. It could be wrong, but there will be a darkly comedic element to that projection if it proves to be accurate.
Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays
9 of 10
Seattle Mariners
This team is perfectly designed to win exactly 87 games.
For the Mariners, winning 87 games is the goal. This is according to none other than president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, who is openly operating on a 10-year plan to win 54 percent of the time.
Even if you didn't know this, you might have guessed as much.
The Mariners have done a tremendous job of developing pitching, not to mention a central superstar in Julio Rodríguez. But a lack of big offseason swings has been the norm, and so it went as Seattle spent only $10.5 million in free agency this winter. A dramatic step up from last year's 85 wins therefore seems unlikely.
St. Louis Cardinals
This is going to be a long year.
The Cardinals spiraled in 2023, finishing in last place for the first time since 1990. They didn't exactly recover in 2024, going just 83-79.
The franchise thus has the right idea to want to transition to a new era, but the actual change-over won't happen until after 2025. Until then, "hurry up and wait" seems to be the plan.
This puts the quote-unquote best fans in baseball in a tough spot, which is to say nothing of Nolan Arenado. The poor guy needs to have been traded yesterday.
Tampa Bay Rays
If a mediocre MLB team falls at a another team's spring training site, does it make a sound?
The Rays will probably be competitive. They always are, as only two teams have won more games since they ditched the Devil in 2008.
The Rays were lucky to win even 80 games in 2024, however. And throughout the winter, the roster hasn't changed for the better so much as been slightly altered here and there, as if with fins and a racing stripe.
Because Hurricane Milton did a number at Tropicana Field, the Rays will play this season at the Yankees' spring training site as they try to salvage plans for a new stadium. In all, it feels as if the Rays have wandered into a pocket universe of sorts.
Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals
10 of 10
Texas Rangers
They'll either be a wrecking ball or a bust.
The Rangers went from World Series champs in 2023 to a 78-win bust that just never got going in 2024. Whatever you do, though, don't write them off for 2025.
Especially if Wyatt Langford and Evan Carter fulfill their collective promise, this lineup may again be the world-beater that it was in '23. And if Jacob deGrom stays healthy, it should surprise nobody if he wins his third Cy Young Award.
Granted, "if" is the operative word here. The 36-year-old deGrom isn't the only Rangers star on the older side, after all, as also in that camp are Corey Seager (30), Marcus Semien (34) and Nathan Eovaldi (35 tomorrow). If any one of these guys can't hack it, 2025 could turn into a house of cards.
Toronto Blue Jays
This had better work.
You have to hand it to the Blue Jays for not taking their last-place finish in 2024 lying down. They've been hard at work this offseason, signing Santander and Max Scherzer and adding Andrés Giménez in a trade.
And yet, FanGraphs projects them to finish last again.
The Jays could outperform that projection, especially if they get a bounce-back year from Bo Bichette. But if not, there's a real worst-case scenario in which the team will have wasted its last year with Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who are both slated for free agency in the coming winter.
Washington Nationals
They're the best candidate to be your new favorite upstart.
The Nationals are entering 2025 off back-to-back seasons of 91 losses, and not much of an offseason to boot.
This said, there is some energy here that is vaguely reminiscent of the Orioles of 2022 and 2023.
The youth movement is firmly underway, with CJ Abrams and James Wood anchoring the lineup while MacKenzie Gore does the same for the rotation. And in right fielder Dylan Crews, the Nats may have the best hitting prospect in the National League.
Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.
.jpeg?w=600 "Best Bobblehead Giveaways of 2026 MLB Season 😀")
