With so many information sources in our daily lives, it is easy to miss a key development or two. Well, don’t worry. I have you covered for some things you need to know as the 2025 MLB season begins in earnest on Thursday.
Will the Dodgers Repeat?
That the Los Angeles Dodgers didn’t win 100 games last season was one of the few things they weren’t able to cross off their checklist of preseason goals en route to winning the World Series. After all, in the previous four 162-game seasons, the Dodgers had won 100 or more games. Still, 98-64 ain’t too bad and was still good enough to win the NL West by five games.
Shohei Ohtani shattered expectations with a historic 50-50 season (more on that below) and will return to the starting rotation at some point early in the season after Tommy John surgery following the 2023 season. The Dodgers retained their key free agents and added two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell and Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki to the rotation and Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates to the bullpen. Oh, yeah: They still have former MVPs Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, although Betts full-time at shortstop will be something to watch.
Their depth appears to be even greater than in 2024, at least from a position-player perspective. To wit, infielder Hyesong Kim signed a three-year, $12.5 million contract to come over from South Korea and will start the season in the minors. Pitching injuries kept the Dodgers from triple-digit victories last season. There is depth there, too, but in order to get back to and win the World Series again, manager Dave Roberts can’t afford major setbacks there.
Will another team emerge as a threat to the Dodgers? NL West foes will provide plenty of challenges as the San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants try to fortify themselves this offseason. The Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets and Atlanta will provide a threat from the NL East, while only one team figures to emerge from the NL Central. Over in the AL, each division is pretty open, meaning the Dodgers’ biggest hurdle appears to be surviving the NL postseason.
Ohtani Encore
The question about Shohei Ohtani’s 2024 season is this: Was that his peak or is there more he can do?
The second part of that almost seems incredulous considering what Ohtani did last year. En route to winning his third MVP — all unanimously and second in a row — in his first season with the Dodgers, Ohtani put up a .310/.390/.575 slash line with 54 homers, 59 steals and 130 RBIs for an OPS+ of 190. He was the first 50-homer, 50-steal player in MLB history. But that was all as a designated hitter as he recovered from Tommy John surgery that prevented him from showing off his pitching skills.
Will the wear and tear from returning to the mound reduce those numbers? Ohtani had his first TJ surgery following the 2018 season and missed all of 2019 on the mound, which means the abbreviated 2020 season was his return to pitching. Not a fair analysis, but it’s worth noting that he hit .190 in 44 of 60 games. He did bounce back in 2021 and won his first MVP. Ohtani had a .257/.372/.592 slash line with 46 homers and 100 RBIs to go along with a 3.18 ERA, 44 walks and 156 strikeouts in 130⅓ innings (23 starts). That pitching workload is about what is expected in 2025.
How the Dodgers handle him offensively to keep him rested for his mound duties will affect his offensive output. Ohtani played 159 games in his Dodgers debut and he had 155 and 157 games played in 2021 and 2022 before his 2023 was cut about a month short. With the Dodgers wanting Ohtani available in the postseason, they are more apt to convince Ohtani to take a few more days off than the Los Angeles Angels were.
Soto’s Big Apple Move
For the first time in a few years, outfielder Juan Soto won’t be focused on a future contract. That was ensured when the superstar outfielder signed a 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets. All of the chatter regarding his future led the Washington Nationals and then the San Diego Padres to trade the talented hitter.
But does that change the pressure on Soto, going from playing for a contract to living up to one? Probably not in Soto’s mind. After all, this is a player who has a career slash line of .285/.421/.532 with an OPS+ of 160. He thrived with the New York Yankees in 2024, posting hit best offensive season of .288/.419/.569 with a career-high 41 homers and one shy of his best with 109 RBIs.
It was part of a 7.9 bWAR showing, but that also came with protection from Aaron Judge. There won’t be that threat hitting behind Soto, although first baseman Pete Alonso’s return to the Mets could provide similar power.
The Mets have a solid lineup — Soto will hit behind Francisco Lindor and in front of Alonso — but Brando Nimmo hitting cleanup won’t scare many pitching staffs.
Full-Season Skenes
Can Paul Skenes be better than his amazing rookie season with the Pittsburgh Pirates? Considering the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year will get eight or nine more starts and probably won’t be under any other restrictions, the answer is yes.
And that is saying something when you look at Skenes’ numbers from 2024: 11-3, 1.96 ERA, 32 walks, 170 strikeouts, 0.947 WHIP in 130 innings (23 starts).
Skenes, who started the All-Star Game for the NL just two months after his MLB debut and finished third in the NL Cy Young voting, will continue to carve out his legacy as an elite starter with the increased innings. Already possessing a devastating splinker, Skenes is adding a cutter to his repertoire. It could all add up to the dominant Pedro Martinez seasons of 1999 and 2000 or Dwight Gooden’s 1985, which happened to be his second year in the majors.
New Places For A’s, Rays
When the 2024 season ended, we knew that the A’s would be playing in West Sacramento this year. What we didn’t know is the terrible circumstances that would force the Tampa Bay Rays to play elsewhere. That is because of Hurricane Milton, a Category 5 storm in early October that killed 35 people and left Tropicana Field’s roof shredded and the venue unplayable.
It came at a time when the Rays were close to finalizing details on a new stadium, a plan that has since collapsed for a variety of reasons. The hurricane forced the Rays to scramble, eventually landing at Steinbrenner Field, the minor-league complex in Tampa for the New York Yankees and home to the Tampa Tarpons, the Yankees’ affiliate in the low Class A Florida State League. (The Tarpons are playing at an adjacent field this season.) It is unknown whether it will be just one year or more for the Rays at Steinbrenner Field.
Meanwhile, the A’s are beginning the first of at least three seasons at Sutter Health Park, home of the San Francisco Giants‘ Triple-A Sacramento River Cats. The A’s are in West Sacramento as they make their way to Las Vegas, where groundbreaking for a $1.75 billion stadium doesn’t take place until June.
Heat will be a primary factor for the A’s, as a few series have been moved around to have fewer in the summer. The turf field has been replaced by natural grass. The Rays, meanwhile, will have to contend not only with the hot Florida summers, but the almost-daily occurrence of rain that makes having a roof for an MLB stadium mandatory.
Francona Returns
When Terry Francona stepped down as the Cleveland Guardians‘ manager due to health reasons following the 2023 season, he said “I don’t foresee managing.” But after a year away from the daily grind of baseball, Francona surprised many by becoming the Cincinnati Reds‘ manager shortly after the 2024 season. It was the most significant move by the Reds this offseason and it could pay dividends.
The Reds are hoping that Francona, a two-time World Series-winning manager who has a .538 career-winning percentage, can be the missing link for a roster featuring a bunch of talented young players. Can Francona unlock more from dazzling shortstop Elly De La Cruz? Can he make right-hander Hunter Greene one of the elite pitchers in MLB?
Francona, one of the more well-liked managers in today’s game, is embracing the challenge and could make the Reds a major threat in the NL Central this year.
Will the White Sox Be Worse?
The Chicago White Sox lost 121 games last season, the most in the modern era of MLB (since 1901). It was historically bad for a variety of reasons. Going into 2024, they were expected to be bad, but not to that level. It could be more of the same in 2025.
The offseason featured owner Jerry Reinsdorf saying in a letter to fans, “It was a long, painful season for us all. We recognize, on a daily basis, that it is our responsibility to earn your trust, attention, time and support. We vow to take that approach daily as we put the work in this offseason to be better,” then was reportedly open to selling the team just a few weeks later.
So what did the team do to improve on not repeating the disaster of last year?
After trading their best pitcher, left-handed starter Garrett Crochet, to the Boston Red Sox for three prospects, they signed five journeymen to one-year contracts. There is some young talent on the roster, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a better outcome in 2025. Right-hander Sean Burke and his MLB career total of 19 innings pitched will be the Opening Day starter. Right-hander Shane Smith, a Rule 5 selection from the Milwaukee Brewers, will also be part of the rotation. Two other projected starters, right-handers Jonathan Cannon and Davis Martin, each have less than a full season on their career ledger. That puts extra pressure on left-hander Martín Pérez, who is about to turn 34 and is coming off a season in which he posted a 4.53 ERA. The lineup has a little more optimism than the rotation, with center fielder Luis Robert Jr. and left fielder Andrew Benintendi leading the way. But if they show any sort of success, they will be spun off by the trade deadline.
While 121 wins seemed incomprehensible last year, it feels like the White Sox will challenge that mark again this season.
Vladito’s Farewell Tour?
While some speculation is still swirling about Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays working out an extension, this could be the end of the line for the slugger in Canada. Guerrero’s status could be one reason why free agents have shied away from signing with the Jays.
Guerrero isn’t the only big name who could be in their last season in Toronto. Shortstop Bo Bichette, right-hander Chris Bassitt, right-hander Max Scherzer and reliever Chad Green are the noteworthy names scheduled to hit free agency after this season.
A magical run by the Blue Jays would definitely work in the club’s favor for retaining Guerrero’s services past 2025. But the Jays enter the season with projections of being no better than the third-place team in the powerful AL East and more likely to finish last than first. Of course, just getting one of the three AL wild-card spots would be enough to make a run at the World Series.
Still, if Guerrero indeed does hit free agency, the two New York teams will make a big push for him, while the Blue Jays, maybe feeling scorned, will opt to remake their roster.
Small Changes to Rules
After a couple of seasons with noteworthy rules altering the fundamental way MLB games are played, 2025 appears to not have changes that will make a great impact.
Two on-field rules have been altered. The first has to do with the infield shift. The shift part remains the same with teams not allowed to have three infielders on one side of the bag. The change comes with the punishment. In 2025, a violation will result in the batting team accepting the outcome of the play or the batter being awarded first base and runners being able to advance one base. Previously, the penalty was accepting the outcome of the play or the batter was given an automatic ball.
The other change involves a player running through a base other than first on a force play. As an example in this article following the approval of the new rules, if there are runners on first and third and two out, a player would run through second to try and beat the throw to that base instead of sliding. The hope was to get caught in a rundown between second and third, allowing the runner who already was on third to try and score before the final out of the inning. The change allows the umpires, during a replay review, to call the runner at second out for abandoning the base if both feet have hit the ground on the opposite side of the base. The run scores would depend on whether both feet hit the other side of the base before the runner crosses the plate. Previously, if the umps found the runner had beaten the throw to second and ran through the base, they had to put the runner at second, ignoring the overrunning of the base.
City Connect 2.0
Nike’s City Connect uniforms have been pretty polarizing since making their debut in 2021. There have been some terrific ones and some brutal ones. Of the 30 MLB teams, 28 have donned City Connects, with the Yankees feeling they are above everyone else and not having one and the A’s not connected to the city they were playing in. One team (the Dodgers) didn’t like their original City Connects so much that they had a redo.
But if the first set of City Connect 2.0 uniforms is any indication, we are in store for a treat.
The Houston Astros‘ second City Connect is very clean and different while not being too gimmicky. The Astros are the first team to reveal their 2025 alternate uniform, with the Nationals, San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies, White Sox, Miami Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks and Boston Red Sox set to have a second round of City Connect uniforms this season.