Following final week’s MLB Tokyo Sequence 2025 between the Dodgers (2-0) and Cubs (0-2), 26 groups will start play Thursday, with the Rockies and Rays becoming a member of the marathon MLB season Friday.
With two video games down and a couple of,428 to go, listed below are 10 storylines on our radar forward of Opening Day.
1. Dodgers get richer
MLB’s finest received higher this winter.
The Dodgers adopted their 2024 World Sequence triumph by solidifying their beginning pitching rotation, which ranked twenty first in wins above alternative final season (h/t Baseball Reference).
Per FanGraphs, Los Angeles enters 2025 first in beginning rotation WAR.
The Dodgers signed two-time Cy Younger Award winner Blake Snell, 32, to a five-year, $182M contract and 23-year-old Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki, who was solely eligible to signal a minor league contract due to MLB guidelines.
The pair solidifies the group’s pitching depth, which additionally contains Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Dustin Could. Two-way famous person Shohei Ohtani looms as an addition to the rotation after September 2023 elbow surgical procedure restricted him to the plate final season. Extra on that in a bit.
The foremost’s prime heavyweight turned much more formidable with different offseason additions, together with nearer Tanner Scott, who had a 1.75 ERA with 84 strikeouts in 72 innings final season with the Marlins and Padres.
2. Shohei Ohtani’s return to the mound
The three-time MVP hasn’t pitched since August 2023, when he was with the Angels. Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts has advised this spring that Ohtani may return to the mound in Could, though these plans stay fluid.
“It is a long-term play for Shohei’s well-being additionally,” Roberts lately mentioned, per MLB.com. “A very powerful piece of that is having him … by way of the tip of the season, by way of October.”
3. Crimson Sox again in AL East combine
Welcome again, Boston.
Per ESPN Guess, the Crimson Sox (+250) are tied with the Orioles for the second-best odds of profitable the AL East, trailing the Yankees (+150).
Boston has been an afterthought coming into the season the previous couple of years. In 2024, it was +1900 to win the AL East, a slight drop from 2023, when it was +1800.
After consecutive last-place AL East finishes (2022-23), the Sox improved to 3rd a season in the past, going 81-81. They adopted with an lively offseason, signing third baseman Alex Bregman (three years, $120M), beginning pitchers Walker Buehler (one 12 months, $21.05M) and Patrick Sandoval (two years, $18.2M) and former Yankees nearer Aroldis Chapman (one 12 months, $10.75M).
Boston additionally acquired beginning pitcher Garrett Crochet from the White Sox, confirming its 2025 playoff ambitions.
4. Juan Soto, the King of Queens
Soto spurned the Yankees, his 2024 house, when he signed a 15-year, $765M contract with the Mets, who wish to construct on final 12 months’s run to the NLCS.
In 2024 with the crosstown Yankees, Soto, a four-time All-Star, slashed .288/.419/.569 with a career-high 41 house runs in 157 video games.
He joins a stable lineup that features lead-off man and shortstop Francisco Lindor, first baseman Pete Alonso, outfielder Brandon Nimmo, third baseman Mark Vientos and designated hitter Jessie Winker.
The Mets (+1000) have the fourth-best odds of profitable the World Sequence, trailing the Dodgers (+275), Braves (+800) and Yankees (+850). Soto could be the piece to get their first championship since 1986.
5. What does Pirates SP Paul Skenes have in retailer for an encore?
The previous LSU nationwide champion burst on the scene final season, debuting on Could 11, 2024. He began 23 video games for Pittsburgh, going 11-3 and posting a 1.96 ERA. Skenes struck out 33.1 p.c of the batters he confronted, the very best charge amongst NL 2025 Opening Day starters.
If he did all that as a rookie, wait till he hits his prime. Skenes might be a fair larger pressure in 12 months 2, making each considered one of his begins must-see TV.
6. The fragile Blue Jays-Vladimir Guerrero Jr. dance
The four-time All-Star first baseman is coming into his remaining season underneath contract with the Blue Jays and has failed to achieve floor on a long-term extension. Earlier this month, the outfielder revealed his most up-to-date counteroffer in negotiations “did not attain 600 [million]” (h/t ESPN), nicely beneath the market set by Soto’s Mets deal.
With no long-term contract, Guerrero will pop up in commerce conversations all season, significantly if Toronto fails to maintain tempo within the crowded AL East.
7. Mike Trout’s final stand?
The three-time AL MVP has missed 58.9 p.c of Angels video games since 2021 due to accidents. He has seemed sharp this spring, slashing .297/.469/.595, a doubtlessly promising signal for a bounce-back 2025. Nevertheless, the Angels are going nowhere, which may make Trout, who moved from middle discipline to proper discipline this spring, a reputation to look at on the commerce deadline ought to he waive his no-trade clause.
8. AL West up for grabs
The Astros have reigned over the AL West for practically a decade, however the tide may flip. Houston misplaced Bregman in free company and dealt outfielder Kyle Tucker to the Cubs, two important losses. May the Rangers or Mariners catch the ‘Stros within the standings?
9. St. Louis’ uncomfortable actuality
Third baseman Nolan Arenado stymied a commerce to Houston, establishing a clumsy scenario with the Cardinals that may not be resolved anytime quickly.
“After spending a lot of the previous 4 1/2 months pondering life after Arenado, the Cardinals are actually having to do an about-face,” wrote MLB.com’s John Denton in February.
Per FanGraphs, St. Louis, which hasn’t made the postseason in two consecutive seasons, has a 23.4 p.c likelihood of qualifying for the playoffs and solely a 0.7 p.c likelihood to win the World Sequence.
If the Cardinals shortly fall out of competition, commerce talks involving Arenado might be revisited.
10. The White Sox at floor zero
The White Sox will attempt to pull themselves off the mat after recording an MLB-record 121 losses in 2024. Certainly, they can not get any worse. Proper?
Fallacious.
Chicago’s pitching workers could have gotten worse after buying and selling Crochet. But whereas prospects Sean Burke, the group’s Opening Day starter, and Shane Smith, chosen in December’s Rule 5 draft out of the Brewers farm system, have promise, the Sox ought to nonetheless have one of many league’s worst offenses. In 2024, White Sox batters ranked final in batting common (.221), on-base share (.278) and slugging share (.340).
This offseason, the entrance workplace added infielder Josh Rojas (one 12 months, $3.5M), and outfielders Austin Slater (one 12 months, $1.75M), Mike Tauchman (one 12 months, $1.95M) and Michael A. Taylor (one 12 months, $1.95M) on low-cost contracts that should not increase the group’s flooring a lot.
Issues won’t be significantly better, if in any respect, in 2025.
