8 MLB Teams That'll Have a Better Record in 2025
The Chicago White Sox set a new MLB record with 121 losses a season ago. They have to be better in 2025, right? Right?!
There's a real shot that the White Sox will win more than 41 games this year, but consider that despite being a historically bad team a season ago, they had Garrett Crochet strike out 209 batters over 146 innings. Crochet was traded to the Boston Red Sox in December.
Moving Crochet was probably the correct long-term move for general manager Chris Getz, but when you're a really bad team and you trade one of your only impact players, it's hard to be sure you'll get better the next season. Perhaps Luis Robert will have a bounce-back season and an increasingly talented crop of prospects will start to reach the majors in 2025. It wouldn't take much for the 2025 White Sox to be better than the 2024 squad.
Still, it's hard to feel certain that the White Sox will be better this year than a season ago. Here are eight teams that are much safer bets to improve their win totals from last season.
Texas Rangers
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A year after winning their first World Series title, the Rangers had something of a championship hangover last season, regressing to a 78-84 record and failing to capitalize on a very winnable AL West.
Whether Bruce Bochy's squad returns to the playoffs in 2025 or not, they figure to win more than 78 games this season. They added Joc Pederson as their DH, and he seems to win almost every place he goes. Outfielder Evan Carter and third baseman Josh Jung are almost certainly going to play more than the 91 combined games than they did a season ago. Adolis García (.684 OPS) and Marcus Semien (.699 OPS) are good bets to have better offensive years.
Questions remain with the pitching staff, which is why it's hard to say that the Rangers will definitely return to the postseason.
Kirby Yates and José Leclerc departed in free agency, while David Robertson is still a free agent. Currently, 38-year-old Chris Martin is penciled in as the closer for the Rangers.
Additionally, a starting rotation with Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Tyler Mahle carries quite a bit of injury risk. However, deGrom and Mahle were both returning from Tommy John surgery last year, so each is likely to pitch more in 2025, even if 200 innings is unlikely.
It's tough to know what to make of the Rangers as a whole, but there is reason to believe they will be more competitive than last season even with those questions acknowledged.
Atlanta Braves
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The Braves are another team with stars who carry a ton of injury risk.
Ronald Acuña Jr. (torn left ACL) and Spencer Strider (internal brace procedure) each won't be ready for Opening Day as they continue to recover from injuries that sidelined them for most of the 2024 season. Chris Sale, Reynaldo López and Ozzie Albies are other players you can reasonably have durability questions about.
With that said, Brian Snitker's club dealt with about the worst possible injury luck a year ago and still managed to sneak into the playoffs. Even in a division where both the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets have World Series aspirations, it's hard to imagine the Braves dealing with more injuries than they did a season ago. And it's hard to argue with the immense upside of the team that president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos has built.
In free agency, Atlanta added Jurickson Profar to a lineup that will include Albies, Marcell Ozuna, Austin Riley, Matt Olson and sleeper NL MVP pick Michael Harris II. Acuña—one of the most electrifying players in the game—should be back at some point in the first half of the season.
The Braves did lose Max Fried in free agency, although Strider should rejoin a rotation headlined by Sale, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner. The aforementioned López posted a 1.99 ERA over 135.2 innings last season in his first campaign as a starting pitcher in half a decade. Spencer Schwellenbach also impressed in rookie season, logging 123.2 frames and posting a 3.35 ERA.
Health can't be taken for granted with the Braves, but they managed to win 89 games a year ago despite being crushed by injuries. They seem more like a 95-100 win team in 2025.
Cincinnati Reds
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A trendy Spring Training pick to win the NL Central last year, the Reds disappointed with just 77 wins, leading to the ouster of skipper David Bell. He was replaced by future Hall of Famer Terry Francona, who seems likely to get the most out of what is a talented roster.
Matt McLain missed the entire season after having surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. Mind you, this is someone who looked like a future All-Star in his first 89 MLB games two seasons ago, hitting 16 home runs with 50 RBI and an .864 OPS.
Jeimer Candelario is one of those players who seems to pop every other year. Well, he struggled in the first season of a three-year, $45 million deal with the Reds, posting a minus-0.4 WAR. But two years ago, this is someone who doubled 39 times and posted an .807 OPS in a campaign split between the Washington Nationals and Chicago Cubs. He's an obvious bounce-back candidate.
Other players who could get better results from 81 home games a year at Great American Ball Park are new additions Austin Hays and Gavin Lux.
The Reds would benefit Nick Lodolo staying healthy and breakout seasons from the likes of Brady Singer and Andrew Abbott in the starting rotation. But Francona always tends to get the most out of his teams, and the Reds seem more likely to win 87 games this year than repeat the 77 from a season ago.
Boston Red Sox
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Are the Red Sox going to win a crowded AL East? Probably not. But Alex Cora's team finished last year with an 81-81 record, and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow made enough upgrades this winter to think they will easily top their .500 record from a season ago.
The starting rotation has extremely high upside, with Garrett Crochet—who struck out 209 batters over 146 innings a season ago for the lowly White Sox—being acquired to join Tanner Houck, also an All-Star in 2024, atop the rotation. Kutter Crawford is currently dealing with right knee soreness, but the Red Sox are hopeful that at least one of Walker Buehler and/or Lucas Giolito will regain the ace form they once showed. Brayan Bello has also logged 150 innings in each of the last two seasons.
Offensively, the Red Sox added Alex Bregman—one of the most accomplished postseason hitters of all time—to a lineup that already included Rafael Devers and Jarren Duran. Outfielder Roman Anthony and middle infielder/outfielder Kristian Campbell, two of the top 10 prospects in baseball, are also expected to debut at some point in 2025.
Breslow and the Red Sox have bet quite a bit on two relievers who are long in the tooth in Liam Hendriks and Aroldis Chapman to headline their bullpen, which could prove to be a questionable strategy. But even with that concern acknowledged, this is definitely a team that's going to win north of 81 games in 2025.
Arizona Diamondbacks
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The Diamondbacks won 89 games a year ago, and after some huge offseason additions, they might be the favorites to win any division other than the one they are in.
But while the Snakes might be hard-pressed to top the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West, they look like the favorites to claim the top NL Wild Card spot, and they could very well send their division rivals home prematurely in the postseason for the second time in three years.
Arizona kind of had former NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes fall into their laps, and the team inked him to a six-year, $210 million deal that includes deferrals. He'll headline what was already an extremely talented rotation, even if you're hoping for bounce-backs from certain members. Burnes, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodríguez and Brandon Pfaadt is such a good top five that as of now, Jordan Montgomery—who had a disastrous first season in Arizona—looks like he's going to be a very expensive long man. Imagine if Montgomery bounces back this season.
The Diamondbacks did lose first baseman Christian Walker in free agency, but they responded by acquiring slugger Josh Naylor to play to the left of Ketel Marte, one of the most underappreciated stars of this era.
If Torey Lovullo's squad gets a season from Corbin Carroll more like what he was in his rookie season—when he looked like a do-it-all superstar—the Diamondbacks could win 95-plus games in 2025.
Chicago Cubs
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How did the Cubs respond to a disappointing 83-79 win to open up the Craig Counsell Era? President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer—who some perceive to be on the hot seat—called up the most successful team of the era and worked out two major trades.
The first of those two trades with the Houston Astros brought Kyle Tucker to Chicago, a move that generated quite a bit of hype but still probably isn't properly appreciated by some. Tucker has been an All-Star in three consecutive seasons, and he hit 23 home runs and posted a 4.2 WAR last year despite a shin injury limiting him to only 78 games. The Cubs added one of the 10 best position players in baseball.
Hoyer also landed Ryan Pressley—who closed out 90 games and a World Series title between 2021 and 2023—to pair with an exciting young bullpen piece in Porter Hodge.
With a strong starting rotation headlined by Shota Imanaga and Justin Steele, the Cubs should clear 83 wins with relative ease in 2025. And it shouldn't take much more than that to win the NL Central.
Athletics
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They may be about to play at least three seasons in a Triple-A ballpark, but things are looking up for the Sacramento Athletics.
It took some hazard pay, but Luis Severino will now headline the starting rotation for the A's, coming off of a career revitalization with the Mets a year ago. On top of that, they acquired lefty Jeffrey Springs from the Tampa Bay Rays to join Severino in the rotation. General manager David Forst also took a flier on veteran reliever José Leclerc, who was a World Series hero with the Texas Rangers two years ago and could be a strong set-up option to the electric Mason Miller.
Meanwhile, there was a lot to like in the second half of the regular season from the A's lineup a year ago. Right fielder Lawrence Butler hit .300 with an .898 OPS after the All-Star break. JJ Bleday finished the season with 43 doubles, the sixth-most in all of baseball. And Brent Rooker—who now has a five-year, $60 million deal—won a Silver Slugger Award after hitting 39 home runs and driving in 112 runs.
Are the A's going to make the playoffs for the first time since 2020? Probably not. But Mark Kotsay's team should easily clear the 69 games they won in 2024.
San Francisco Giants
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In his first offseason as president of baseball operations, Buster Posey inked Willy Adames to a seven-year, $182 million deal to be the team's starting shortstop.
Adames' defensive metrics fell off a cliff last year, and moving to Oracle Park for 81 games a year doesn't typically help hitters, but San Francisco is unquestionably better for adding someone who hit 32 home runs and drove in 112 runs last year for the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Giants should also benefit from a full season of Jung Hoo Lee, who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury less than two months into his first MLB campaign. But he has strong defensive instincts and the Giants were evidently high on his bat when they gave him a six-year, $113 million deal to come over from South Korea.
At this stage of his career, it's fair to be skeptical of the one-year, $15 million deal that future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander got from the Giants. But even if the 42-year-old doesn't prove to have much left, Bob Melvin's club should have a pretty good starting rotation with Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Jordan Hicks and Kyle Harrison.
It's possible that the Giants are still the fourth-best team in the NL West, but they should top their 80-82 record from 2024.
