At the roughly quarter mark of the MLB season...
...some teams are rolling, and others are awful
A serious baseball fan’s impressions of the roughly first 6 weeks of the 2025 MLB season.
Let’s start with the good:
The Detroit Tigers: Right now, they own the best record in the American League, and not surprisingly they have the best run differential in all of baseball. Is it too soon to start dreaming of a World Series?
The Minnesota Twins’ rebound: Left for dead after approximately 35 games, the Twins are 21-20 and owners of an 8-game winning streak. They might not have been as bad as they were when they were a mess, and they might not be as good as they are right now. But they’re making noise.
The Athletics: There’s no way to sugarcoat this situation — playing home games over three seasons in a minor league stadium is not ideal, but in a division that lacks a dominant team the Athletics are not to be overlooked. Calling up a few top prospects should allow for more offense, which this team could use.
The Los Angeles Dodgers: Yes, I know, the Evil Empire of the West can buy the best talent, but think about how many pitchers they have on the injured list. Yet, they are atop the National League West and own the best record in their league. All signs post to another deep playoff run.
The National League West: Four teams over .500 at this point was not expected. That level of success is not likely to continue, especially as more intra-division games dot the schedule, but watching San Diego and San Francisco roar out of the gates was a great sight.
The New York Mets: Even though they spent $785 million on Juan Soto, the consensus was the Mets were still a notch below Atlanta and Philadelphia. Well, they continue to lead the division; and if the pitching can hold up, there’s every reason to think they might win the East.
And now the bad:
The Colorado Rockies: They’ve lost 5 out of every 6 games they’ve played, and they’re on pace to win fewer than 30 games this season. Awful might be too kind a word to describe this team.
The Pittsburgh Pirates: Including their Tuesday loss in New York, the Pirates have gone 19 straight games without scoring more than four runs. The offense is horrible. The pitching isn’t holding up. If this team can avoid 100 or more losses this season, interim manager Don Kelly deserves the job on a permanent basis.
The Baltimore Orioles’ pitching staff: This team should be at the top of the American League East. They should be battling for the best record. They should be dominant. Instead, one mistake after another in cobbling together a pitching staff has the Orioles looking up to the other four teams in the American League East. To expect a turnaround is foolish; this season looks to be a waste.
Kyle Freeland: No, one player ought not be the poster for how bad Colorado has been, but 0-6 with an ERA of 6.15 is terrible. Opponents are hitting .327 against him. But the interim manager and pitching coach have nothing credible behind him. So, Freeland will continue to pitch.
Marcus Semien: Remember how good this guy was a couple of years ago? Now? He began the day hitting .179. Nothing more needs to be mentioned.
16 players hitting under .200: Sit them down. Send them down. Do something but stop playing them.
Updated playoff predictions:
NL division champions: Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia
NL wild card teams: New York, San Diego, Atlanta
AL division champions: Seattle, Detroit, New York
AL wild card teams: Cleveland, Kansas City, Texas
NL Championship Series: Los Angeles vs Philadelphia
AL Championship Series: Detroit vs Texas
World Series: Los Angeles vs Detroit