The World Series champions have somehow become even stronger.But there are a few teams who could stop them from retaining their titleA welcome introduction.Recent years have seen a tactical flattening of the game with the introduction of the universal DH, the banning of the shift and the three-batter minimum rule, but this adds an interesting wrinkle to game management.The league table of catchers’ challenge percentages will be fascinating.AEThe robo-ump makes me sick, but I also didn’t love the pitch clock and I could never go back to 3hr 45min games.

In the end I think we’ll all get used it fairly quickly,Phillies left-hander Jesús Luzardo claimed he wouldn’t use it all year and didn’t make it one inning before he reversed course,BAGCount me among the naysayers,There’s something pure about a pitcher figuring out the nuances of a particular ump’s strike zone,And ABS minimizes an important aspect of a catcher’s repertoire: framing.

MJUmps have gone from God to gotcha thanks to instant replay and now, ABS,It’s been a slow, painful demise for the men in blue and now umps will be emasculated even more acutely,That said, strike zones will become more consistent, and once the umps just give up and learn what the computer likes, we’ll probably see fewer challenges and fewer embarrassing moments,DLEddy Merckx? Michael Phelps? Jan Zelezny? Leonidas of Rhodes? Secretariat? At this point you have to look beyond baseball and start making comparisons with other sports’ greatest ever competitors,What he is doing should be impossible.

AEHe’s the greatest to ever do it, full stop.Ruth never faced 100mph sliders.Bonds never took the mound.Ohtani’s doing both at historic levels in the analytics age.BAGThere really is no comp for the value and domination Ohtani has brought to the game.

No offense to The Babe, but he wasn’t exactly hitting off flamethrowers or throwing the ball 100mph like Ohtani.MJHimself! Ruth made 36 starts over two years before his hitting prowess forced him off the mound, while Ohtani has made nearly 90 starts over the past four seasons in which he has hit full-time.You can’t take your eyes off him.DLLast year was supposed to be the year the Orioles’ young stars properly broke through.Instead, it was a disaster – players couldn’t find a rhythm, injuries piled up and the rest of the American League East was the strongest it had been in years.

But the young core is back, Pete Alonso has joined, there’s a new manager, and the new owners seem to be more ambitious than the Angelos family was.AESeeing whether October bends to LA once more or finally breaks them.We haven’t seen this kind of superteam-v-the field tension since the fin-de-siècle Yankees.The Dodgers feel like a team all but nailed-on for a coronation, which usually means something weird is coming.The fun will be finding out which contender, if any, is bold enough to disrupt it.

BAGExciting prospects,From elite infielders Konnor Griffin (Pirates), Jesús Made (Brewers), Kevin McGonigle (Tigers) and JJ Wetherholt (Cardinals) to power hitters Travis Bazzana (Guardians) and Sebastian Walcott (Rangers), there’s a great chance at least a couple of these prospects become household names,MJMLB and the MLB Players’ Association using every minute of this season to get together and figure out the next collective bargaining agreement,This is hard to believe, but baseball is actually on the rise for the first time in for ever after a great season, World Series and World Baseball Classic,It has real momentum, and to have an extended work stoppage that cancels or shrinks next season is sports suicide.

DLOrioles catcher Samuel Basallo played 31 games last year and averaged just.165, but the Camden Yards front office clearly saw something in him and signed him to an eight-year extension.Spring training is largely meaningless but the 21-year-old finished it with an OPS of 1.115 including several big home runs.Everyone in Baltimore loves Adley Rutschman, but if he has another down year, Basallo will be waiting in the wings.

AERed Sox outfielder Roman Anthony feels like the next face-of-the-league test case: a blue-chip prospect with only 71 games of big-league experience fixed to be the everyday leadoff hitter for an AL East contender.One of the World Baseball Classic’s breakout stars, the 21-year-old has even been hyped as a MVP candidate.BAGTravis Bazzana.It’s not just that Bazzana, drafted first overall by the Guardians in 2024, is Australian.The kid was balling out this spring.

The infield prospect’s power was on display for Team Australia in the WBC and for the Guardians – he hit two homers in a game last weekend,Bazzana will start in Triple A but there’s already buzz around his presumed call-up, which could turn the back-to-back AL Central winner into even more of a juggernaut,MJWell, the Pirates have a two-for-one now that pitching phenom Bubba Chandler has earned a spot on the rotation,The onetime two-way player who gave up the dream to focus on pitching will be Pittsburgh’s fifth hurler after Buccos brass wisely decided to start the 23-year-old rather than put him in the bullpen,DLIt’s hard to look beyond Ohtani in the National League, for reasons outlined above.

In the AL it’s trickier – Cal Raleigh deserved it last year, but Aaron Judge plays in a major market, is relentlessly consistent, and has shown he’s not a one-off.AEIt’s Ohtani in the NL and the Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez in the AL.The 25-year-old Rodríguez, just entering his prime, has the supporting cast in place to turn his electric tools into a season too overwhelming for voters to overlook.BAGOhtani (NL) and Bobby Witt Jr (AL).Make that four in a row for Ohtani.

The AL race is a tad more fun, and I’ll cast a vote for Witt to double down on his all-around dominant 2025 and regain the batting title he won in 2024.MJLet’s be honest: the only way Ohtani and Judge don’t win the MVP awards is if they get hurt.DLThe Yankees.Toronto were one the league’s luckiest teams last year and rode that fortune to within one out of winning it all, but are likely to fall back a bit.It’s the strongest division in baseball again, and any of the five teams could win it, but there is always an inevitable feeling about the Yankees.

AEBlue Jays,It’s the most volatile division in baseball, but Toronto’s recent October experience and offensive ceiling give them the narrowest edge,Health is the swing factor, yet if even a portion of the rotation stabilizes, their lineup can outslug anyone in a division where margins are razor-thin,BAGRed Sox,There are safer picks.

The Yankees have a superhero hitter and mostly unchanged roster that was successful in 2025,The Blue Jays were inches away from a World Series victory,It will be hard for Toronto to duplicate that effort, though, especially with Bo Bichette’s departure,But I’m smitten with Boston’s potential give their young talent, how well Anthony hit in the WBC, and adding Ranger Suárez to a rotation already featuring Garrett Crochet,MJIf Gerrit Cole comes back and is healthy and effective, the Yankees will have a superb pitching staff, but I still like the Blue Jays to repeat as AL East winners.

Yes, they lost Bichette, but they did sign Japanese third baseman Kazuma Okamoto to help fill their power gap, and the pitching staff is still rock solid.DLThe Royals.Tarik Skubal will depart the Tigers at some point, leaving them significantly weaker.The Guardians are arguably past their peak, which makes it time for the Royals’ decade of rebuilding to finally pay off.AETigers.

This is less about dominance than comparative stability.Detroit’s pitching foundation, bolstered by the Framber Valdez addition, gives them a higher floor than rivals with more obvious flaws.In a division defined by uncertainty, the Tigers are the safest pick.BAGTigers.Detroit were already the favorite in baseball’s weakest division.

Then they signed Valdez.The Royals are intriguing by virtue of Witt’s presence.But none of the teams in the division did much this offseason to bolster their chances.MJOh, the middling Central, where you never know who to pick because, well, who knows? That’s why I’m picking the Royals, with their young talented roster about to be infused with one of the best catching prospects in the sport, Carter Jensen.DLThe Mariners have such a fun, likable team and it still feels as if they’re on an upswing.

All the projections put them well ahead of their division rivals,And even though it would feel extremely Mariners-y for them to miss the playoffs regardless, they are just too well-rounded to fail completely,AEMariners,The consensus favorite on merit, Seattle’s elite pitching and improved offense make them the most complete team in the AL,Raleigh may not belt 60 homers again, but paired with a fully unleashed Rodríguez and a deeper, more balanced lineup, Seattle won’t need a historic outlier to score enough runs.

BAGThe Astros are on a clear downward trajectory.The Rangers’ big acquisition of MacKenzie Gore could easily be a bust.The A’s may hit a billion home runs this season, but it won’t be enough to compensate for a weak pitching staff.That leaves the juggernaut Mariners.MJWe know who it won’t be – the Angels, whose owner Arte Moreno doesn’t believe winning is a top priority for the team’s fans.

That’s a hot take! They do actually enjoy winning in Seattle, where the Mariners fell just a game short of reaching their first World Series.Their three-headed pitching monster of Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo and Bryan Woo, mixed with Raleigh and company should have enough to hold off Houston for a second consecutive season.DLIt’s been a strange offseason for the Mets, but they’re clearly trying to get over their disappointing 2025 quickly by focusing on the immediate future, with short and short-ish contracts for newcomers Bichette, Luis Robert Jr and Freddy Peralta.All have proved their quality and if they gel, they could dominate the division.AEPhillies.

How many more times can Rob Thomson and Co run it back with this core? The answer may be one,But the lineup can still rake and the rotation is deep even before Zack Wheeler’s anticipated return in late April,The free-spending Mets will push them, but Philadelphia’s October-tested identity gives them the edge over 162 games (even if their final grades have left something to be desired in recent years),BAGThis shapes up to be a tight one,The Mets and Phillies are clear contenders, but the Phillies are old, and the Mets’ collapse is too recent to have faith.

Enter the Braves and Ronald Acuña Jr, who returns to earlier career form.Atlanta also didn’t lose anyone significant and enter the season with a stacked, healthy roster.MJPhillies GM Dave Dombrowski said Bryce Harper’s 2025 season was “not elite”, and despite that being a correct assessment, it still hurt the first baseman’s feelings.That’s water under the bridge according to the pair, but I don’t buy it.Wheeler is recovering from injury, Suárez is now in Boston, and suddenly the Phils seem stale.

So they’re no match for a revitalized Mets roster filled with multiple defensive gamers playing out of position.Yes, they’re the Mets, and yes, the team is a bit weird, and yes, it’s a make-or-break season for team president David Stearns, but the worn-down Phils will yield to the team in Queens as things turn around for the Amazins’.DLThe Pirates have been awful for a decade, but this may be the year that ends.Paul Skenes is the most exciting pitcher in the league, and Griffin is MLB’s top prospect.The Pirates weren’t quite ready last year and didn’t meet expectations, but the young stars and a weak division could mean Pittsburgh’s window is opening.

AEIt’s a coin-flip division, but Chicago’s balance – enough pitching, enough lineup upside, fewer glaring weaknesses – makes them the safest bet,Milwaukee’s development machine keeps them close, yet the Cubs’ incremental improvements across the roster give them the slight advantage in a division no one has put their stamp on,BAGIt’s hard not to be smitten with the Cubs give their monster offseason additions, Alex Bregman and Edward Cabrera,They finally have to depth the overcome the Brewers,Look for the Pirates to make a run after adding several powerful bats