Happy Thanksgiving, baseball enthusiasts! As the holiday name suggests, Thursday is a day to be grateful for the good things that have happened and the good things to come. Non-football sports are often secondary on Turkey Day, but baseball is a way of life as much as it is an interest. It's a companion, there with you every night during the summer.
With the Thanksgiving holiday upon us, here is one thing fans of each MLB team can be thankful for this year. Sit back, loosen up your belt, and take a gander as you digest.
Arizona Diamondbacks: Carroll's second-half rebound
Following a World Series berth with a playoffs-less season is a tough pill to swallow. On the bright side, Corbin Carroll finished 2024 very strong after a brutal start that had to be at least a little worrisome given his long-term contract and importance to the franchise. As late as June 5, Carroll was hitting .192/.278/.279, numbers that get most players sent to the minors. Carroll went 3 for 5 with a double the next day, and hit .256/.348/.522 with 16 doubles, 10 triples, and 20 homers in 98 games the rest of the way. That is the guy who won Rookie of the Year in 2023. Glad to see him show up in 2024, even if it came later than expected.
Atlanta Braves: The Sale heist
The Chris Sale trade was my favorite move of last offseason, and it worked out even better than I anticipated. Sale threw 177 ⅔ innings with a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts and finally -- finally! -- won his first career Cy Young. He had finished in the top five of the Cy Young voting six times previously, the most ever for a pitcher before winning the award. Sale did that while the Red Sox paid his salary and after the Braves gave up blocked prospect Vaughn Grissom in the trade. Atlanta had nowhere to play Grissom, who was hurt much of 2024 and ineffective when he did play. One of the best trades in recent memory. The Braves got a Cy Young winner without giving up anything they missed or paying a dime.
Baltimore Orioles: New ownership
Despite winning 101 games in 2023, the O's opened 2024 with the fifth-lowest payroll in baseball. The Angelos family did not invest in the roster at a level commensurate with a World Series contender. Fortunately for O's fans, Baltimore billionaire David Rubenstein bought the team in March and took control of the franchise in August. GM Mike Elias has reportedly been given the thumbs up for shop for a top-of-the-rotation starter this offseason, among other things. The O's have one of the most talented and highest-upside rosters in the game. Now they have an owner who at least gives fans reason to believe payroll will rise accordingly.
Boston Red Sox: New pitching infrastructure
Let's not sugarcoat it: The Red Sox had fallen behind the times on vital things like pitch design and pitcher development in recent years. It was the single biggest reason they finished in last place three times in four years from 2020-23. That tide has begun to turn. CBO Craig Breslow and new pitching coach Andrew Bailey, plus a host of behind-the-scenes folks, have brought the Red Sox out of the Stone Age and onto the cutting edge of pitcher development. These things don't happen overnight, though the BoSox faithful should be encouraged by the steps taken by Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, et al in 2024.
Chicago Cubs: Pete Crow-Armstrong's glove
The jury is still out on whether center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong will ever be anything more than a bottom-of-the-lineup hitter, but wow can that kid play center field. His glove alone is worth the price of admission. Crow-Armstrong is a gifted defender, one of the very best in the game, and he has a little showboat to him. Not in a bad way -- he's not showing up his opponent -- but he will let you know it when he makes a great catch. This is the entertainment business and Crow-Armstrong is a capital-E Entertainer.
Chicago White Sox: Crochet's breakout
It's sort of remarkable that the White Sox lost a modern-record 121 games in 2024 despite having one of the best pitchers in the game take the mound every fifth day. Garrett Crochet's move into the rotation was a smashing success. It earned him an All-Star Game berth and the Comeback Player of the Year award (2024 was his first full season since Tommy John surgery), and it will very likely net the ChiSox a nice prospect package when they trade him this winter. Crochet is two years away from free agency and the White Sox are much further away from contention than that. Trading him now when his value is at this highest makes sense. Now it's on GM Chris Getz to nail the trade.
Cincinnati Reds: Elly Elly Elly
For my money, Elly De La Cruz is the most exciting player in baseball. He has his flaws, namely the MLB-leading 218 strikeouts, but De La Cruz has power, has speed, has a rocket throwing arm, he plays with overt enthusiasm for the game. Just a delightful player and one of the best all-around threats in the game. Joey Votto was great. He's a Hall of Famer in my book. But with all due respect, Votto lacked that "can't take your eyes off him" quality that De La Cruz has in spades. The last Red to have it was ... Eric Davis? Yeah, probably. Baseball needs more players like Elly. What a joy.
Cleveland Guardians: Baseball's best bullpen
This is going to sound like I'm a hater and I don't mean it to come out that way, but the Guardians were an 86-ish win team that was elevated to 92 wins and the AL Central title and the AL's No. 2 seed by the game's best bullpen. It counts! The bullpen was so good and a huge part of their success. Closer Emmanuel Clase was automatic, setup men Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith were terrific, and supporting castmates Tim Herrin and Pedro Avila got a lot of big outs along the way. Cleveland's bullpen was the difference in the AL Central and also the difference in the ALDS, and just about everyone will be back next season. It's hard to have a bullpen this good in back-to-back years, but the Guardians just might have to personnel to pull it off.
Colorado Rockies: Coors Field
Look, things are bad for the Rockies right now. They've lost more than 100 games each of the last two seasons -- those are the first two 100-loss seasons in franchise history, if you can believe that -- and for some reason payroll is coming down in 2025. Nolan Jones was hurt and ineffective following his 2023 breakout too. Ezequiel Tovar is one of the best shortstops in the game and Ryan Feltner and Michael Toglia are interesting enough, but all indications are another lean year or three are coming. On the bright side, the Rockies do play in Coors Field, one of the game's underrated great ballparks in a great city. The team on the field may not be very good, but at least fans have a Grade-A place to watch them.
Detroit Tigers: Skubal's Cy Young
Go back to 2021 and three best pitching prospects in Detroit's system were Casey Mize, Matt Manning, and Tarik Skubal in that order, per MLB Pipeline. Three years later, Manning and Mize have yet to find their footing at the big-league level, and the third pitcher on that list just won the Cy Young unanimously. Skubal threw 192 innings with a 2.39 ERA and an MLB-leading 228 strikeouts in 2024, and is now on the very short list of the game's best pitchers. He very well might be the best lefty in the sport. The Tigers have themselves a no-doubt ace, which is one of the hardest things to acquire in baseball. There is young talent up and down the roster, and this year's wild-card berth should just be beginning of an extended run of contention.
Houston Astros: Brown's emergence
Six weeks into 2024, Hunter Brown had a 7.79 ERA and the Astros had to move him to the bullpen. That was after pitching to a 0.89 ERA in seven games in 2022, a 4.12 ERA in the first half of 2023, and a 6.57 ERA in the second half of 2024. Brown was going backwards. He was performing worse with experience, not better, which is always worrisome. Following that brief demotion to the bullpen though, Brown added a sinker, and turned his season around. He had a 2.48 ERA in 23 starts after rejoining the rotation and was the team's best starter down the stretch. The Astros are facing something of a changing of the guard. Alex Bregman is a free agent, Kyle Tucker and Framber Valdez will be free agents next offseason, and Jose Altuve turns 35 in May. Brown emerged as a foundational piece at exactly the right time for Houston.
Kansas City Royals: Witt becoming a dominant force
Prior to 2024, Alex Rodriguez was the only shortstop in baseball history to win a batting title, a Gold Glove, and a Silver Slugger at any point in his career. Bobby Witt Jr. then did all three in the same season. I think Witt is the closest thing to a perfect player in the game today. You have to nitpick to find a flaw. He's an elite hitter, an elite defender, an elite baserunner, he posts up every single day. You name it and Witt does it. As an added bonus, finishing second in the MVP voting netted the Royals a Prospect Promotion Incentive draft pick. Witt is helping Kansas City is ways that extend beyond what he does on the field. A franchise player in every single way.
Los Angeles Angels: Soriano's breakout year
Not a whole lot went right for the Angels in 2024. They lost a franchise-record 99 games and a pair of meniscus surgeries limited Mike Trout to only 29 games. One thing that did go right was the decision to put big-armed righty José Soriano in the rotation. Soriano had a 3.64 ERA in 38 relief appearances in 2023, the Angels gave him a chance to start in 2024, and he rewarded them with a 3.42 ERA in 113 innings and 20 starts. Is he an ace? No, but Soriano to the rotation was a big win for Angels team that needs as many wins as it can, both on the field and on the roster.
Los Angeles Dodgers: The 2024 World Series
You play to win championships, so we must go with the World Series title here, but Dodgers fans should also be thankful for MVP Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Clayton Kershaw coming back for another year, and a host of other things (that includes landing 2023 Cy Young winner Blake Snell in free agency on Tuesday night). A spoiled fan base they are right now. The 2024 title was the franchise's eighth overall, and also their first in a 162-game season since 1988. All the haters who say 2020 was a fake season with a fake championship no longer have a leg to stand on.
Miami Marlins: Alcantara's return in 2025
The Marlins are in the "tear it down to the studs" phase of their rebuild, which means it's pretty early and there's a lot of bad baseball ahead. Staff ace and 2022 Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara will be back next season though. He missed the 2024 season with Tommy John surgery, though all indications are is his rehab is going well, and Alcantara should be ready to pitch on Opening Day. He is one of the top pitchers in the game when healthy and a true building-block piece. A building block for the Marlins, or some other team after they trade him? That remains to be seen. Point is, Miami will get its best player back in 2025.
Milwaukee Brewers: Chourio's extension
Last December, the Brewers signed outfielder Jackson Chourio to an eight-year, $82 million contract with two club options before he'd even played a single MLB game. Heck, he'd played only six Triple-A games at the time. It was a risky contract for the small market Brewers, no doubt, but fast forward to present day and it looks like a steal. Chourio, who won't turn 21 until March, slashed .275/.327/.464 with 21 homers, 22 steals, and 3.8 WAR as a rookie in 2024. That earned him a third-place finish in the Rookie of the Year voting. Had the Brewers waited and instead tried to lock up Chourio now, it would probably cost them another $100 million on top of the $82 million they already agreed to pay him. A budding superstar on a wildly team-friendly deal.
Minnesota Twins: Wallner figuring it out
The 36.4% strikeout rate means it's not always pretty, but after coming back up from Triple-A in July, Matt Wallner authored a .282/.386/.559 slash line with 12 home runs in 228 plate appearances. He has massive power -- we're talking some of the best exit velocities in the sport -- so the Twins will live with the strikeouts to get the ability to change the game with one swing. The Twins have a lot of really good young hitters and Wallner is as productive as any of them, even if will drive you nuts sometimes with strikeouts. Home runs win ballgames and Wallner has a chance to hit an awful lot of them.
New York Mets: Lindor's all-around brilliance
There are better hitters in baseball, and there are better defenders and baserunners, but very few players do all three things at as high a level as Francisco Lindor. He's a brilliant talent. One of the best all-around talents in the sport, plus he's affable and accountable, two traits you want in a franchise player. It seems crazy now that Lindor heard boos from the Citi Field crowd as recently as this past April. Lindor is everything you want in a face of the franchise. Great player, great in the clubhouse, great in the community. There should be more players like him.
New York Yankees: The Judge/Soto show
Not since David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, and maybe not even since further back than that, have we see two hitters this good on the same team. MVP Aaron Judge and top-ranked free agent Juan Soto combined to hit .305/.439/.634 with 99 home runs and 18.7 WAR in 2024. The rest of the Yankees hit .233/.302/.375 with 138 home runs and 11.6 WAR. The 2024 Yankees were the first AL/NL team with two qualified hitters with a 179 OPS+ or better since the Lou Gehrig/Babe Ruth Yankees in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Judge and Soto were a two-man army all summer. Will Soto re-sign with the Yankees and continue with Judge moving forward? It's only Thanksgiving. Save that one for Santa.
Athletics: Butler's breakout
It sucks out loud that the A's are leaving Oakland for a Triple-A ballpark in Sacramento, and that they're owned by the worst owner in sports. It is a damn shame what is happening to one of the most iconic franchises in baseball. All the off-the-field nonsense makes it easy to overlook the fact the A's went a respectable 39-37 in their final 76 games this year, and they have some legit talent on the roster (JJ Bleday, Mason Miller, Brent Rooker, etc.). Among them: Lawrence Butler. The 24-year-old hit .179/.281/.275 in his first 41 games and got sent to Triple-A for a reset in May. Butler returned as a new hitter a month later and slashed .291/.330/.565 with 20 homers in 84 games the rest of the way, including two separate three-homer games. The owner is doing his best to sabotage the franchise, but the A's have some real players, including Butler.
Philadelphia Phillies: Harper's seamless transition to first
What started as an experiment to get him back in the lineup as soon as possible following Tommy John surgery a year ago has blossomed into a full-blown second phase of his career. Bryce Harper has quickly become a standout defensive first baseman, one good enough to be a Gold Glove finalist this year. He was initially rough around the edges at first base, understandably, and now he looks like a seasoned veteran there. Harper's move to first allowed the rest of the roster to fall into place (i.e. Kyle Schwarber could DH and not have to play the outfield) and could help extend his career. No longer do Harper and the Phillies have to worry about the wear and tear of running around the outfield. A smashing success, the move to first base has been.
Pittsburgh Pirates: Skenes being an instant ace
It's hard to believe that, barely 17 months ago, the Pirates were criticized for taking Skenes with the No. 1 pick over Dylan Crews and Wyatt Langford simply because he's a pitcher, and pitchers get hurt. A year later, Skenes is the NL Rookie of the Year and a third-place finisher in the Cy Young voting, and already in the conversation for the best pitcher in baseball. Throwing 133 innings with a 1.96 ERA and 170 strikeouts as a rookie will do that. Rarely is it as easy as Skenes made it look. Even the very best pitching prospects can need an adjustment period in the big leagues. Skenes came up and was an ace from Day 1.
San Diego Padres: The Soto trade
It's not often you can trade a player as good as Juan Soto and come away with a better team, but that's exactly what happened with the Padres in 2024. The Soto trade gave them the pitching depth that lacked in 2023, including nominal ace Michael King, plus it opened up outfield spots for Jackson Merrill and Jurickson Profar, who were San Diego's two most productive position players this past season. I wouldn't say the Padres won the Soto trade -- this is a textbook win-win trade to me -- but they have to be thrilled with their end of the deal. It's really hard to come away with a better team after trading a star, yet San Diego did it.
San Francisco Giants: Fitzgerald and Ramos emerging
It was not enough to save POBO Farhan Zaidi's job, but the shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald and outfielder Heliot Ramos emerged as everyday players for the Giants in 2024, and wow did they need that. Fitzgerald hit .280/.334/.497 with 15 home runs in 96 games while Ramos slashed .269/.322/.469 with 22 homers in 121 games. They combined for 5.1 WAR, which may not sound great, but A) neither played a full season, and B) Giants position players other than Matt Chapman accounted for only 11.8 WAR combined. Fitzgerald and Ramos did a lot of heavy lifting. Those two plus Chapman give new POBO Buster Posey a solid offensive foundation to build on.
St. Louis Cardinals: Winn grabbing the shortstop job
The Cardinals are calling it a retool than a rebuild, but the bottom line is they are building more for the future than the present, and they have a great building block in shortstop Masyn Winn. Winn authored a .267/.314/.416 slash line and was a 4.9 WAR player thanks to his outstanding defense. He might have to the strongest infield arm in the game. When you're rebuilding -- sorry, retooling -- shortstop is one of the most difficult and most important positions to fill, and St. Louis is already in good hands there. Winn is a terrific young player.
Seattle Mariners: The best catcher in baseball
A hot take? It shouldn't be. Cal Raleigh led all catchers in FanGraphs' WAR (which includes pitch-framing), he won the Platinum Glove as the league's best defender at any position, and he slugged 34 home runs. Raleigh also led baseball in innings caught. He's a workhorse, he's a great defender, and he's a middle-of-the-order bat. He also turned only 28 this week. It's getting to be time for the Mariners to sign him to a long-term extension before he hits free agency after 2027. Switch-hitting catchers with power and great defense are pretty much the rarest commodity in the sport. Seattle can't let him get away.
Tampa Bay Rays: Better days are ahead
Let's be real here, things are not great for the Rays right now. The team went 80-82 in 2024 and sold at the trade deadline. Tropicana Field suffered significant damage in Hurricane Milton. Significant enough that the ballpark will not be usable in 2025, and the Rays will instead play their home games in nearby George M. Steinbrenner Field, spring training home of the AL East rival Yankees. Their new stadium may have hit a snag as well. So, yeah, not great. What to be thankful for then? There's Junior Caminero, one of the best young hitters in the game. The return of ace Shane McClanahan, who missed 2024 with Tommy John surgery. Taj Bradley is a keeper. Even when the Rays are bad, they're rarely bad bad. There's still enough talent here to contend in 2025, even if they will play home games in a rival's spring training stadium.
Texas Rangers: A healthy deGrom in 2025
It's easier to stomach a postseason-less season when you're the defending World Series champions. The Rangers got their rings and will have a chance to contend again in 2025. Things didn't work out so well in 2024, but it happens. And come 2025, Texas should have a healthy Jacob deGrom fronting the rotation. I know, you can't count on deGrom to stay healthy, but he is healthy right now, and he looked very deGrom-like in his three late-season starts following Tommy John surgery. The power, the precision, it was all there. The difference between even 20 starts of deGrom and 20 starts of his replacement is massive. Massive enough that it could swing the AL West race next year.
Toronto Blue Jays: Rogers Centre renovations
It's never good when you have to praise the ballpark (ask Rockies fans). Not a whole lot went right for the Blue Jays in 2024 though, other than Vladimir Guerrero Jr. regaining his MVP form for the final five months. Even that had the cloud of the team's poor record and Guerrero's looming free agency (after 2025) hanging over it. Instead, we'll say Blue Jays fans should be thankful the multi-year renovations at the Rogers Centre are complete, breathing new life into the game's sixth-oldest ballpark. New amenities, new seating, new playing surface, new walls, new backdrop. I've been told by folks who've been there that the stadium experience has been upgraded considerably, plus it looks a lot nicer on television. Now the brain trust has to be a better team to fill this revitalized ballpark.
Washington Nationals: An emergent young core
CJ Abrams, Dylan Crews, MacKenzie Gore, James Wood. No longer are they prospects. They are big leaguers, productive ones too, and those guys (and others) mean the Nationals are inching closer to contention. They really should spend some money and supplement that young core with veteran free agents this winter. Bring in a frontline starter, add to the bullpen, maybe find one more bat. There are three wild-card spots now, and when you have as many highly talented young players as Washington, things can come together really quick. You can make the jump from 90 losses one year to 90 wins the next. The Braves and Cubs did it not too long ago. Why can't the Nationals?
