The 2026 MLB regular season is less than two weeks away, with the New York Yankees visiting the San Francisco Giants in a March 25 season opener followed by a full schedule of Opening Day games the next day. That means it is the perfect time to see where every team stands heading into the new season.
Here is a team-by-team look at the year ahead for all 30 MLB teams — the most vital players, insider intel, spring buzz, fantasy help and prospect insight all in one place. Whether your team is a World Series contender or already playing for next year, there is something for you here.
Jump to team:
American League
ATH | BAL | BOS | CHW | CLE
DET | HOU | KC | LAA | MIN
NYY | SEA | TB | TEX | TOR
National League
ARI | ATL | CHC | CIN | COL
LAD | MIA | MIL | NYM | PHI
PIT | SD | SF | STL | WSH
AL East
Why the season hinges on Kyle Bradish: More specifically, it’s about the 29-year-old Bradish’s ability to withstand a significant innings jump in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery. Bradish was brilliant in his return late last year, juicing expectations as he headlines a rotation that added right-handers Shane Baz and Chris Bassitt over the winter. Between Bradish and Trevor Rogers, the Orioles boast a pair of starters who have shown extended periods of excellence.
The O’s lineup is deep, powerful and features a nice mixture of veterans and kids. But if the Orioles can’t pitch, all of their offseason acquisitions — including signing first baseman Pete Alonso and closer Ryan Helsley — will be for naught. Bradish is the bulwark against that.
How to win your fantasy league: Nearly every projection model believes catcher Samuel Basallo is a top-five prospect in all of baseball. The Orioles already have him locked up through 2034. While finding playing time could be tricky with Adley Rutschman behind the plate and Pete Alonso at first base, sometimes a bat forces its way into the lineup. And considering Basallo qualifies at such a thin position, drafting him is a no-brainer.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Gunnar Henderson returns to his 2024 form. His OPS fell by nearly 100 points last season, and while he was still one of the best all-around players in baseball, Henderson’s bum left shoulder impeded his production.
He’s healthy now, emboldened by his time at the World Baseball Classic and ready for a return to superstardom that few can match. At 24, Henderson is smack in the middle of his prime and the sort of talent who can carry a team to the postseason.
Why the season hinges on Roman Anthony: Nobody on the Red Sox roster can match Anthony’s ceiling — and constant work in Boston’s batting cages has helped him elevate the ball more consistently. Should that translate into the regular season, the Red Sox are looking at an MVP candidate.
At 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, Anthony is a physical specimen who also understands how to draw walks and frustrate pitchers with his almost laser-like sense of the strike zone. If Anthony is good, the Red Sox will be good. If Anthony is great, Boston’s ceiling is limitless.
How to win your fantasy league: Take advantage of down years to pluck high-level talent on the cheap — in this case Jarren Duran. Just two years ago, remember, Duran posted nearly nine wins above replacement. His power fell off last year, but it returned with a vengeance in spring training and the World Baseball Classic. The Red Sox entertained all sorts of trade scenarios with Duran this winter but never found a partner that valued him as highly as they do. Keeping Duran speaks to Boston’s faith in his 2024 and prompts the ultimate question: Are they right?
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Garrett Crochet‘s new splitter makes him even nastier. Already Crochet is, at worst, a top-five pitcher. Nobody reasonably would quibble with suggesting he’s next in line behind Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes among all pitchers. And to complement his three-fastball mix with something that moves vertically takes what’s already great and amplifies it.
New York Yankees
Why the season hinges on Gerrit Cole: This is about what the Yankees can be with Cole in their rotation. Max Fried looks great. Cam Schlittler looks great. Will Warren looks great. Luis Gil looks great. Ryan Weathers’ stuff looks great. With Cole slated to return in May, he’ll have plenty of time to build back up for the postseason and follow a model set by the Los Angeles Dodgers: As long as the foundation is good, what ultimately matters is the sort of roster a team can carry into October. And one with Fried, Schlittler and Cole — with the returning Carlos Rodón in the mix — is terrifying for every other American League team.
How to win your fantasy league: Pay what you need to pay to get Aaron Judge. Yeah, real good insight there, Passan. It’s true, though. Judge is head and shoulders above other hitters. He has won three of the past four American League MVP awards and consistently hits the ball harder than anyone in the game. Reliability matters in fantasy, and no one is close to Judge in that department.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Carlos Lagrange is pitching meaningful innings for the Yankees by September — if not sooner. There’s plenty to like about the 22-year-old. He’s 6-foot-7. His fastball sits at 101 mph and tops out a couple of ticks higher. He is the epitome of the modern power arm, something the Yankees do well at developing. Until he’s summoned to the big leagues, Lagrange will start games, but if he arrives this year, he could join David Bednar and Camilo Doval to form Nasty Boys 2.0, a bullpen defined by extreme levels of velocity.
Why the season hinges on Shane McClanahan: The last time McClanahan threw in a major league game was Aug. 2, 2023. Two surgeries later, he’s back on the mound, and while his fastball velocity so far this spring is down two or three ticks from the 97 mph heat he regularly brought before his injury, McClanahan still is ramping up slowly and judiciously, and the Rays believe there’s more in the tank.
Does that mean McClanahan can still be the overpowering ace he was before Tommy John and nerve surgeries? The answer to that could be the difference between a Rays rotation that’s among the AL’s best and one that’s missing a true frontline arm.
How to win your fantasy league: Provided he gets full-time at-bats as expected, Chandler Simpson is going to lead MLB in stolen bases this year. Because his bat-to-ball skills and speed are so elite, he’s among the better bets in the game to post a batting average in the vicinity of .300. And while a handful of home runs is likely his power ceiling, he’s going to score runs, too, and a three-category star with an average draft position of 236 in ESPN live drafts is a, ahem, steal waiting to happen.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Junior Caminero finishes in the top three in AL MVP voting. Caminero is still just 22, and he hits the ball as hard and consistently as anyone not named Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani.
Don’t discount what he’s taking from the World Baseball Classic, either. He won’t just leave the tournament with the knowledge gained from his time with the Dominican Republic wrecking crew; he’s a vital cog in the operation, and what that does for a young player’s confidence is immeasurable.
Even if he’s not playing at the Steinbrenner Field launchpad anymore, nobody would be surprised if Caminero reaches 50 home runs after pummeling 45 last year.
Why the season hinges on Jeff Hoffman: As Toronto fans well know, the Blue Jays were two outs from beating the Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series last year when Miguel Rojas took Hoffman deep to tie the game. They return most of their deep well of professional hitters, added Dylan Cease to a strong rotation and continue to play tremendously clean defense.
The bullpen, then, is Toronto’s potential Achilles’ heel — even with the addition of Tyler Rogers — and Hoffman playing security blanket instead of fire starter in the ninth inning is the sort of stabilizer needed in an AL East built to expose every little weakness that exists.
How to win your fantasy league: Kazuma Okamoto doesn’t come to MLB from Nippon Professional Baseball with the records or accolades of Munetaka Murakami, and that’s fine. For the last eight seasons, the 29-year-old has been the paragon of consistency for the Yomiuri Giants, regularly booking 30-homer seasons and more recently cutting down on his strikeouts. He’s probably not going to be a star. But for a player going 208th in ESPN drafts, he’s as good of a value as you’ll find at third base.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Dylan Cease finishes second in AL Cy Young voting. Fresh off a seven-year, $210 million free agent windfall, Cease joins a Blue Jays pitching machine that delights in taking raw stuff and molding it into something more.
Cease always has been a stuff guy, and with a little bit of polish, his strikeout artistry has the potential to morph into something more. You don’t find many 30-year-olds with ceiling left. Cease has finished second for the Cy Young once before and is primed to do it again.
AL Central
Why the season hinges on Munetaka Murakami: The White Sox aren’t going to be good this year. They simply don’t have the starting pitching depth yet. But they will be better, and as they transition from the doldrums of the most losses ever in 2024 to a future that looks bright, Murakami is their high-risk, high-reward bet.
Considering their cache of infield depth — from current shortstop Colson Montgomery to fast-rising prospect Caleb Bonemer to WBC standout Sam Antonacci to first-round pick Billy Carlson to UCLA star Roch Cholowsky, who’s the overwhelming favorite to go to Chicago with the No. 1 pick in this July’s MLB draft — the White Sox can afford a big swing like Murakami, who owns the single-season home run record in NPB for a Japan-born player. If he can make consistent contact, the power will play and the White Sox will, for the first time in a long time, find themselves in an enviable position.
How to win your fantasy league: Yes, Kyle Teel is out four to six weeks with a hamstring injury. But if you’re in a league with injured reserve or a deep bench, it offers an even greater opportunity to steal him now and earn dividends later. Teel is a top 10 catcher bat, and he’s currently going 17th (and 253rd overall) in ESPN drafts. Opportunity is there for the taking.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Grant Taylor winds up closing. Taylor’s arm strength is undeniable. He’ll regularly run his fastball into triple digits, he spots it well, and in 36⅔ innings last season, he didn’t allow a home run. Between Taylor and flamethrowing Tanner McDougal, the White Sox have the makings of a dynamite bullpen going forward. And even if Seranthony Dominguez and Jordan Leasure have the inside track for saves right now, Taylor’s stuff is so overwhelming that he should eventually brute-force his way into the ninth inning.
Why the season hinges on Jose Ramírez: Because it always does. The Guardians finished 29th in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage in 2025, and their most impactful move to add a hitter was … signing Rhys Hoskins to a minor league contract.
As much as Cleveland hopes some of its young players grow into lineup staples, the onus remains on Ramirez, who has carried the Guardians for years and will continue to do so in 2026. The nightmare scenario is an injury or regression, but then Ramirez’s hallmark is his consistency. It’s what has got him on a clear path to Cooperstown, regardless of how little help ownership gives Cleveland’s front office to supplement an offense that badly needs more.
How to win your fantasy league: Lack of name recognition notwithstanding, Cleveland annually develops starting pitchers as if it has cracked the code. Gavin Williams broke out last year, and though Parker Messick is a strong possibility this year, the bet here is that left-hander Joey Cantillo could be the latest. Cantillo’s stuff looks just OK on paper, but his outlier traits – elite extension and the lowest-spinning four-seam fastball in MLB — make him a deep sleeper worth a flier.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Chase DeLauter is the second-best hitter in the Guardians’ lineup. This depends, of course, on DeLauter staying healthy, which has proven troublesome since his junior year of college in 2022. Since then, he has played in 57, 39 and 42 games. Those issues haven’t been major, but DeLauter has to shake his injury-proneness to reach his All-Star-caliber potential.
Why the season hinges on Tarik Skubal: Beyond being the best pitcher in the world, Skubal is the proxy of the Tigers’ 2026 season. If he is a Tiger, that means they are good. And if he gets traded at the deadline with free agency and a $400 million-plus contract awaiting him there next offseason, the Tigers probably stumbled along the way.
At this point, Skubal’s bona fides are incontrovertible: the stuff, moxie and consistency — it’s all there, with two American League Cy Young Awards to show for it. With Framber Valdez in the rotation behind him, there might not be a better 1-2 punch in the game, and walking into 40% of your games confident that you’ll emerge victorious is quite the place to start for the Tigers.
How to win your fantasy league: Low-cost starting pitching depth is the foundation of good fantasy teams, and Drew Anderson is completely off the radar of most managers, ranking 164th among those drafted on ESPN, behind players with no shot at pitching in the big leagues this season. Their ignorance is your bounty. Anderson is back from the KBO, where he struck out 245 in 171⅔ innings, and in Detroit’s rotation, with the stuff of a midrotation starter, he’s a perfect late-round draft or $1 auction player.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Kevin McGonigle is atop the Tigers’ lineup by mid-April and starting alongside Max Clark in October. McGonigle will be a star, Chase Utley 2.0, and though A.J. Hinch navigates his outfield platoons as well as any manager, Clark is an every-day center fielder with an elite glove and a bat to match. Rare is the year when two prospects capable of this much impact arrive with one team. The future in Detroit continues to grow brighter.
Why the season hinges on Bobby Witt Jr.: At 25, Witt is in the middle of his prime, and though he was typically excellent in 2025, there’s more in the tank. That’s quite a thing to say for a player coming off a seven-win season, but putting limits on Witt’s talent is a fool’s errand.
Behind Ohtani and Judge, he is the best player in baseball, and if you’re judging strictly on all-around talent, he is king. With the walls moved in at Kauffman Stadium, Witt’s homer total is primed to spike back into the 30s — and perhaps higher. And as he illustrated in the WBC, no shortstop plays the position with the combination of Witt’s athleticism, grace and arm. He is Him.
How to win your fantasy league: Though Carter Jensen won’t play behind the plate full time — the Royals have Salvador Perez — he’ll qualify at the position. And it’s not going out on a limb to say he’ll be a top-five hitter there, even as a rookie. Jensen’s power is monumental, and his willingness to let the ball travel and wallop it to the opposite field speaks to a maturity well beyond his 22 years. Kansas City’s offense has a chance to be very good this year, and Jensen is one big reason.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Jac Caglianone hits 30 home runs this year. His rookie year was rough, with flashes of brilliance surrounded by fits of disappointment. The talent hasn’t gone anywhere, though, and Caglianone’s raw power is so supreme that anyone sleeping on it will be awoken by the sound it makes when his barrel strikes the ball. Maybe, at the end of the day, Caglianone is nothing more than an exit-velo monster who can’t put together the other elements to become a quality hitter. But that’s unlikely. Only a handful of players in the world can hit a ball 120 mph. That’s a skill worthy of faith.
Why the season hinges on Joe Ryan: As many young pitchers as the Twins have acquired, Ryan is their bellwether, a high-strikeout, low-walk, tough-to-square-up artiste. His minor back injury has been resolved, and though Ryan’s fastball velocity in his first start this spring was down nearly 2 mph from his average last year, he remains the stabilizing force on a team in transition.
If things go sideways for the Twins again, they could move him at the trade deadline, particularly considering he’ll reach free agency after the 2027 season. And if he goes, it says everything you need to know about how the Twins’ 2026 went, too.
How to win your fantasy league: Though Luke Keaschall going around the 150th pick in ESPN drafts illustrates that fans know of him, that’s still 50 spots too late. All Keaschall does is hit, and had he not gotten hurt and missed more than half the season last year, he would easily be a top-100 player this year. Get in now while the getting’s good. He’s an anchor, he’s a keeper, he’s a power-speed-average menace.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Mick Abel is the second-best pitcher in the Twins’ rotation this season. A former first-round pick, Abel came to Minnesota in the trade that sent Jhoan Duran to Philadelphia at the deadline last year and got thrashed as a rookie.
Abel connected with mental skills coach Brian Cain over the winter and looks like a new man this spring. Though 10 shutout innings with 13 strikeouts and no walks against middling competition isn’t star-making, it suggests that Abel has found something the Twins desperately need.
AL West
Athletics
Why the season hinges on Nick Kurtz: Because he has the chance to eventually take the reins from Aaron Judge as the best hitter in baseball. That is a lot to say for someone with fewer than 500 major league plate appearances, but that’s how good Kurtz is.
It helps to play in Sacramento, but Kurtz’s home (.290/.382/.657) and road (.291/.385/.582) splits aren’t dissimilar. Where he needs to improve is against left-handed pitching, as teams will take every opportunity to avoid righties (.336/.439/.714) in favor of the drastic comparative platoon advantage (.197/.261/.423). Kurtz just turned 23, so there’s plenty of time to evolve and room for growth, which, considering what he did en route to winning AL Rookie of the Year, is scary.
How to win your fantasy league: Tyler Soderstrom is being drafted more than 80 spots below teammate Brent Rooker, and by the end of 2026, their lines could look similar. The A’s didn’t lavish a seven-year, $86 million contract on Soderstrom by accident. They believe he’s one of the best young hitters in baseball. And their Sacramento bandbox is the perfect place to show it.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … the A’s contend for a wild-card spot. The pitching is still too iffy to say they’re a favorite, but the lineup is one of the best in baseball, with Kurtz, Soderstrom, Rooker, Jacob Wilson, Shea Langeliers, Lawrence Butler and the newly added Jeff McNeil. They will rake. They will outscore you. And if pitching coach Scott Emerson can cajole something out of a rotation and bullpen that features neither ace nor closer, the A’s can beat up on lesser AL West competition while the AL East cannibalizes itself and the AL Central looks to redefine the word mediocre.
Why the season hinges on Yordan Álvarez: Coming off the worst season of his career, Álvarez has looked sluggish in camp, according to scouts who have seen him. Other than 2024, he’s a historically bad spring training player, so there’s no need to panic yet. It’s worth keeping an eye on, though, because big-bodied sluggers such as Álvarez tend to have different aging curves. Most don’t start on a downward trajectory in their age-28 season, of course, which is what keeps the Astros hopeful that the most integral player in their lineup will remain a terror to pitchers.
When he’s healthy and at his best, Álvarez possesses a challenge for pitchers that few hitters can match. He can catch up to velocity, has no demonstrable platoon split and will take a walk. Peak Álvarez is the total-package hitter. If that version of him doesn’t show up, the Astros could be in trouble.
How to win your fantasy league: Josh Hader’s injury paves the way for Bryan Abreu to save games for the Astros, and fantasy players seemingly haven’t caught up, with Abreu’s ADP around 210. He’s already the sort of reliever whose peripherals are good enough to warrant fantasy usage as a middle reliever. Combine those numbers with saves, and Abreu is a top-five reliever.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Hunter Brown leads MLB in strikeouts, which is quite impressive for a pitcher in the same league as Crochet and Skubal. But among Brown’s two jet-fuel fastballs, a cutter he could stand to use a little more and a wipeout curveball, he is approaching legitimate-ace territory. His emergence allowed the Astros to lose Valdez to Detroit in free agency and not have to worry about who would start Opening Day. The Astros’ pitching staff is filled with potential — Tatsuya Imai, Cristian Javier, Spencer Arrighetti, Mike Burrows — but Brown is the only one who has reached his.
Why the season hinges on Zach Neto: The Angels‘ upcoming season doesn’t really hinge as much as it wobbles. Even so, the 25-year-old Neto is the bright light in a dim time. Though Los Angeles is staring at its third consecutive last-place finish and could finally lose 100 games — the Angels are the only franchise never to post a triple-digit-loss season — Neto continues to improve, which is saying something, considering he posted five-plus wins above replacement in each of his first two full seasons. His avoidance of walking will keep him from garnering top-of-the-ballot MVP votes, but with power, speed and defense, he’s a poor-man’s Bobby Witt Jr.
How to win your fantasy league: Draft Mike Trout. In past years, this would’ve been akin to saying “get Aaron Judge,” which only a buffoon would dole out as advice. Regardless, last season Trout played in the most games he had since 2019 and was still plenty serviceable, with 26 home runs. But as of now, his ADP is 195 in ESPN live drafts, and even though he’s 34, he’s still Mike Trout, and the upside is worthy of a middle-round nod.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Reid Detmers moves back to the bullpen and leads the Angels in saves. The Angels are trying Detmers as a starter again this spring, a move that is understandable. At some point, though, the reality of Detmers’ five-year career is that he’s a middling starting pitcher but was excellent last year as a reliever. Sometimes, guys are who they are. And if Detmers is an exclamation point in one role and a question mark in the other, the Angels need to follow Strunk & White’s advice and punctuate properly.
Why the season hinges on Cal Raleigh: Seattle rode the Big Dumper’s historic 2025 season to the cusp of its first World Series, and it enters 2026 as arguably the most talented team in the AL. It would be unfair to expect Raleigh to hit 60 home runs again. It will be far easier for Seattle to hum through the AL West, as expected, if he continues mashing in the middle of the order.
It’s nice to have Julio Rodríguez hitting ahead of him; it’s nice to have Josh Naylor and Randy Arozarena back and Brendan Donovan on board, too. But Raleigh is the engine of Seattle’s lineup, and having a Platinum Glove-winning catcher with the offensive thump of a switch-hitting Kyle Schwarber leaves plenty of room for error by others.
How to win your fantasy league: It can be scary drafting an injured pitcher, and it comes with enough peril to scare off others, which is why Bryce Miller’s ADP is the 255 range. Before the oblique injury that could sideline Miller at the beginning of the season, he was throwing his fastball 2.5 mph harder than last season. When his heater is humming like that, it makes his splitter, curveball and slider that much better. And similar to his Mariners rotation mates, Miller’s pitch mix is the domain of aces, quite the thing to nab for $1 or toward the end of drafts.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Logan Gilbert becomes the latest pitcher to master the splinker. Power pitchers don’t typically have the capacity to add a new pitch every year as Gilbert seemingly does, but with the quality of his other stuff degrading last season, Gilbert is trying to marry a sinker and splitter for an in-between look. It works for the originator of the pitch, Jhoan Duran. It works for Paul Skenes, like Gilbert, dominant on the mound with the accuracy of a junkballer. Picking up the splitter a few years back changed Gilbert’s career, and if the splinker takes, it could do the same again before he reaches free agency after the 2027 season.
Why the season hinges on MacKenzie Gore: The Rangers know what they’re getting from Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi, as long as both stay healthy. Gore, their big acquisition of the winter in a trade that sent five prospects to Washington, is more of a wild card. At his best, he is a frontline pitcher, capable of striking out a dozen on any given day. At his worst … the less said the better.
The Rangers are banking on giving Gore the sort of direction he didn’t have with the Nationals’ previous regime and optimizing an arsenal that includes the hardest left-handed fastball outside of Skubal, Crochet and Jesús Luzardo.
It’s as simple as this: If deGrom and Eovaldi are healthy and Gore can match their performance, the Rangers are a playoff team. If not, they’ll need a lot of help from an offense that has gone dormant two years running since Texas won the World Series.
How to win your fantasy league: Take Jake Burger late and thank me later. Burger is currently the 30th-ranked first baseman in live drafts and is coming off a disappointing first full season with Texas. Two years ago, though, he hit 29 home runs and the year before that 34. If he can stay on the field — his career high in games is 141 in 2023 — he’ll hit the ball over the wall plenty and put himself into top-10 first baseman range at a far lower cost than those currently ahead of him.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Wyatt Langford finishes in the top 5 of AL MVP voting. Yes, the 24-year-old is that good, and he’s showing it in spring training, where he has been one of the best hitters in the Cactus League. Spring stats are as reliable as airplane wifi, sure, but Langford emerging as a star is based on far more than a few at-bats against mediocre pitching staffs. It’s the tools. It’s the talent. It’s time.
NL East
Why the season hinges on Chris Sale: Because every other Braves pitcher seems to be hurt or ineffective. That’s something of an exaggeration, but it’s easy to be a Debbie Downer when Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep both underwent elbow surgery that will sideline them for months, Joey Wentz will miss the season because of a torn ACL, Spencer Strider’s velocity remains AWOL, Bryce Elder’s stuff is eminently hittable, and Reynaldo Lopez and Grant Holmes are supposed to play savior.
If Sale isn’t his Cy Young-caliber self, it might not matter that the Braves’ lineup is still filled with scary names, even after Jurickson Profar’s season-long PED suspension and Ha-Seong Kim’s hand surgery that is expected to keep him out until perhaps June. For a team as talented as the Braves, they have little margin for error, and the 36-year-old Sale regressing would be calamitous.
How to win your fantasy league: Get Drake Baldwin and laugh at your league mates for allowing you to draft the guy who will end the season as the best-hitting catcher in the NL. Baldwin won Rookie of the Year last season thanks to his gifted bat, and with a full slate of at-bats ahead thanks to Sean Murphy’s hip injury that will keep him out until at least May and possibly longer, Baldwin has the opportunity to put up not just solid average and home run numbers but runs and RBIs as well.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Ronald Acuña Jr. returns to MVP form. Remember the last time this happened? In 2021, Acuña tore his right ACL. In 2022, he was just OK. In 2023, he hit .337/.416/.596 with 41 home runs and 73 stolen bases and won NL MVP. In 2024, Acuña tore his left ACL. In 2025, he was better than in his previous comeback season but not his explosive, dynamic self. And though the days of Acuna running wild on the bases are likely gone, the conviction that comes from half a season of play and a full winter to recover should translate in magnificent ways.
Why the season hinges on Eury Pérez: The Marlins need frontline, foundational talent, and nobody on the roster represents that quite like Pérez, the 22-year-old whose combination of size and stuff is unmatched in baseball. At 6-foot-8, with a fastball that sits above 98 mph and touches 100, a slider/curveball complement that is best compared to Skenes’ breaking balls, plus a changeup, Pérez oozes with talent and potential. This is the year evaluators believe he puts it all together. And if he does, Pérez will finish the year as a top 10 pitcher in baseball. That’s his level of talent, the kind that makes the Marlins excited that their rebuild is going somewhere good and fast.
How to win your fantasy league: Before Kyle Stowers suffered a season-ending oblique injury in mid-August, he had the seventh-highest weighted on-base average in MLB. Not among outfielders. Not in the NL. In all of baseball, behind only Judge, Ohtani, Ketel Marte, Schwarber, Will Smith and Raleigh. So why is he currently the 42nd-ranked outfielder with an ADP of 214? Because people are not good at fantasy baseball, and it is your job to leverage their mediocrity. Let them ignore the facts or worry about the mild hamstring strain that has kept Stowers out most of the spring and pounce while you can.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … the Marlins‘ team ERA dips more than half a point from 4.60 last season. Over the last 10 days of the season, when Miami started calling pitches from its dugout, its ERA was 3.11, and though that’s too small a sample to say it is working, the Marlins believe they’ve found something that will make them better. The instinct was to say it will drop a full point, but only two teams in MLB last year had ERAs better than 3.60 (Texas and Milwaukee), and as good as Miami’s pitching staff can be — a whole lot better than an offense with too many holes — the Marlins are not yet a top-five pitching staff. Give it another year or two.
Why the season hinges on Francisco Lindor: First, anyone coming back from a hamate hook fracture and accompanying surgery runs the risk of a distinct loss of power, though Corbin Carroll whacking a ball 114 mph weeks after hamate surgery might suggest stars such as himself and Lindor are immune to such maladies.
More than the hamate, though, is what a healthy, high-quality version of Lindor can make the Mets. Juan Soto is perpetually awesome. Bo Bichette has a chance to transform the lineup. It all starts at the top, though, where Lindor gives those behind him the chance to produce runs early and give breathing room to a Mets pitching staff that has far more starting depth than last season but a bullpen with real questions.
How to win your fantasy league: Ignore Team USA’s game against Italy in the WBC and prioritize getting Nolan McLean. Actually, don’t ignore the game entirely. Look at the first inning. Italy’s Vinnie Pasquantino said it himself: “Nolan McLean made me look like I’d never hit a baseball.” McLean is still figuring out how to harness his otherworldly stuff, and when he does, he will rocket up the list of the best pitchers in baseball. Get on the train while you can.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Juan Soto hits 50 home runs. While it’s a safe bet that he won’t book 38 steals again, Soto’s homer surge in recent years — from 27 to 35 to 41 to 43 — indicates a greater emphasis on power as he heads into his age-27 season. It’s easy to forget Soto is still young, still evolving, still figuring out the full extent of his baseball-playing powers. His greatness, at this point, is indisputable. Just how great Soto can be, and where his ample set of tools takes him, is for him to answer.
Why the season hinges on Zack Wheeler: Returning from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery can be a bear for any pitcher. A power pitcher in his mid-30s is particularly susceptible to complications. All systems seem to be a go for Wheeler, though, as his timeline has accelerated and he’s targeting a mid-April season debut, which is about as good an outcome as possible for a team so reliant on starting pitching. Among Wheeler, Cy Young runner-up Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo and Aaron Nola, the Phillies have half a billion dollars tied up in their rotation, and as great as Sánchez is, as great as Luzardo has shown he can be, as great as Nola desires to be in a return to his old form, Wheeler is their fulcrum, a stabilizer and an amplifier.
How to win your fantasy league: With second base such a thin position, consider Bryson Stott, who has tweaked his swing and could finally come into the power that has been lurking for years. He’s not a value play like some of the previous players mentioned, with an ADP of 180, as much as he is a solution at a position without many. Stott will steal bases. He will score and knock in runs. There’s still upside here, and the Phillies need him to find it because Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Trea Turner can carry them only so far.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Jesus Luzardo is the best No. 3 starter in baseball. Working with Phillies pitching coach Caleb Cotham and the rest of the pitching infrastructure in Philadelphia has done wonders for Luzardo, who passed up on free agency to sign a five-year, $135 million contract extension this week. At 28, Luzardo’s stuff is as good as ever, and if he can avoid issues with his troublesome back, he gives the Phillies the sort of rotation that can go blow-for-blow with the Dodgers’ starters.
Why the season hinges on James Wood: In the same way the Angels are just looking for anchors, the Nationals, whose rebuild is entering its seventh season and going through its second incarnation with new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni, want to know that Wood is the player they believe he can be — a middle-of-the-order star who can reliably hit 40 home runs annually.
Regardless of how Wood performs — after an excellent first half last year, he slumped to finish the season at .256/.350/.475 with 31 home runs as a 22-year-old — it won’t have a demonstrable effect on Washington’s overall season. For the Nationals, 2026 is much more about 2027 and 2028 and 2029 and beyond than it is this season.
How to win your fantasy league: The Nationals’ Opening Day starter is Cade Cavalli, who currently is ranked 140th among starting pitchers in ESPN’s live drafts, one spot behind Freddy Tarnok, who is a free agent. We can say with reasonable confidence that Cavalli will have a better season than Tarnok — and dozens more ranked above him.
At one point, Cavalli was a top prospect. He missed all of 2023 and most of 2024 because of arm injuries, and he wasn’t exactly stellar in 10 starts with the Nationals in 2025. But his fastball still sits at 97 mph, and his impressive spring so far — nine innings, one hit, no earned runs, nine strikeouts — is at least something for a team where there isn’t much.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … the Nationals are worse than the Rockies. And that’s saying something. It’s bad enough to fumble a rebuild as Washington did. To do it again would be malpractice, and so Toboni is putting together this team meticulously, looking for a combination of prospects with high upside — he used to be Boston’s scouting director — and big leaguers who could get flipped at the trade deadline. As bad as the Nationals could be over the first four months of the season, they’ll be worse after they move expiring contracts to keep building a farm system that has drastically improved since he took over.
NL Central
Why the season hinges on Pete Crow-Armstrong: Of all the players on the Cubs — and there are a lot of good ones — Crow-Armstrong is the most capable of carrying a team. Regardless of how he’s hitting, his defense in center field and speed on the basepaths are elite. When he’s hitting, though, as he did in the first half last season and in Team USA’s WBC game against Italy, he’s one of the 10 or 15 best players in the game. Yes, he doesn’t walk enough. Yes, he strikes out too much. Those two qualities tend to be sticky. But if PCA can walk a little more and strike out a little less, suddenly you’re looking at a true do-everything player. And when everyone on a team is good, greatness, or even potential greatness, tends to stand out.
How to win your fantasy league: Dansby Swanson entered spring training never having hit a ball more than 110 mph, and now he has done it twice in exhibition games. This is not to say the 32-year-old is turning into an exit-velo merchant. But when the name of the game is smashing the baseball, Swanson is showing something that, if it holds, could translate into something more than expected after a season in which he still belted 24 home runs.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Shota Imanaga returns to his rookie-year form, when he finished fifth in NL Cy Young voting. Imanaga’s struggles last season — in the first inning with the home run ball — had plenty to do with the mile per hour he lost on his fastball. Living in the low 90s is already dangerous business. Every mph counts. This spring, Imanaga is sitting at 92.6 mph, and as long as it maintains its carry — his ability to purely backspin the ball is elite, tricking hitters into swinging under it — it could be even better than in his rookie season. As long as it continues to tunnel well with his splitter to right-handed hitters and sweeper to left-handers, Imanaga is in line for a big season.
Why the season hinges on Chase Burns: It’s quite a thing to say a playoff team’s season comes down to a rookie, but that’s how much of a difference-maker Burns can be. He demonstrated why he was selected No. 2 in the 2024 draft over 43⅓ innings for the Reds last year, striking out nearly 14 hitters per nine innings — the third-highest rate in the big leagues among pitchers with at least 40 innings. His fastball sat at 99 mph, his slider might be the best of any starter in the big leagues and his command is very good. By Pitching+, a metric that measures the quality of a pitcher’s stuff and location, only 13 pitchers were better. So as brutal as it is for the Reds to lose ace Hunter Greene until July after surgery to shave down a bone spur, Burns, on stuff alone, is a worthy replacement.
How to win your fantasy league: All Sal Stewart has done in his professional career is hit. Rookie ball, Low-A, High-A, Double-A, Triple-A — hit, hit, hit, hit, hit. He does it for average and power. He did it enough in his 18-game big league stint last season for the Reds to bat him fifth in a must-win playoff game against the Dodgers in which he went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs as a 21-year-old. With the first-base job his, Stewart, 22, is a strong contender for NL Rookie of the Year. He also has an ADP of 244. Bold this one. There are few better late-round picks.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … the Reds, spurred by Greene’s return, not only make the postseason but win a series. Imagine facing Greene, Burns and Andrew Abbott in a short series. Not fun. And with Stewart in the middle of the lineup, Elly De La Cruz potentially taking a leap, Matt McLain looking like he’s fully back and Eugenio Suárez peppering Great American Ball Park with home runs again, the Reds have the talent to be one of the better teams in the NL.
Why the season hinges on Jacob Misiorowski: If everything goes right, Misiorowski is one of the few pitchers who can say he has the ability to be as good as Skubal and Skenes. For all of the hype that accompanied Misiorowski’s debut and first three starts — remember the All-Star Game kerfuffle? — his first big league season was hit-or-miss. He finished with a 4.36 ERA. He walked too many. He didn’t get enough flyballs. But this is all nitpicking. Nobody in baseball has Misiorowski’s arm talent. Once he really learns to harness it — maybe this year, maybe next year, maybe never — the true Misiorowski experience will reveal itself. And after trading Freddy Peralta and wondering how long Brandon Woodruff can hold up, the Brewers hope it’s sooner rather than later.
How to win your fantasy league: No team takes talented pitchers and molds them into the best version of themselves as well as the Brewers, and Kyle Harrison has bounce-back potential worthy of your fantasy attention. San Francisco couldn’t do it. Boston tried. Now, as the main return in the Caleb Durbin trade, the left-handed Harrison — once a top 20 prospect — has an inside track on a rotation spot in Milwaukee. The Brewers hope the pixie dust they sprinkled on Quinn Priester last year has the same effect on Harrison, who isn’t on most fantasy draft boards.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Brice Turang goes 30/30. This … is a stretch. There’s no denying Turang is a great player. His defense at second base is excellent, even if the publicly available models flip-flop on it year-over-year. He has real pop. He has wheels. He can really play. But 30 home runs? After he hit a career-best 18 last year, which exceeded his previous career high by 11? More than anything, it’s bet on a player who has done nothing but get better. In his rookie season, Turang’s average exit velocity was 85.5 mph. The year after: 87. And last season: 91.1. Any higher, and it starts to get into the domain of truly elite hitters. Maybe that’s where Turang belongs.
Why the season hinges on Konnor Griffin: Perhaps it would be better to say the season hinges on when Griffin, the 19-year-old wunderkind, arrives in the big leagues. If it’s Opening Day, as the Pirates are considering, they’ll be indicating that they’re fully invested in trying to make the playoffs this season because for however solid Jared Triolo is, Griffin’s talent is precisely what Pittsburgh needs. It’s not a slam-dunk choice. Griffin has shown spurts of greatness this spring, tempered by stretches of … what a 19-year-old in the big leagues might look like. He still hasn’t walked this spring, a reminder that it’s a hard game — and it’s a hard choice — but whatever the Pirates do, Griffin won’t be spending much time in Triple-A. He’s destined for the big leagues this year.
How to win your fantasy league: Get a Pittsburgh arm. Paul Skenes would be great. Braxton Ashcraft is a sneaky choice. Jared Jones is a pick-and-stash. But Bubba Chandler is an excellent now choice. His fastball sits at 99 mph. His slider is filthy. His changeup is nasty. He’s not Skenes — no one is — but Chandler is going to make one hell of a No. 2 starter when he settles into the big leagues and helps round out the cannons in the Pirates’ brigade.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Paul Skenes leads MLB in innings pitched this season. The Pirates have been careful with Skenes over his two seasons, and understandably so. He is the most talented player in the organization since Barry Bonds. At the same time, everything about him — his mentality, his body, his understanding of the game — is built for him to turn into a classic workhorse. As long as he’s healthy, 200 innings is well within reach. Nobody got to 210 in the past two seasons, so it’s a decent over/under mark to set for Skenes, who needs to be slightly more pitch-efficient to make either a reality.
Why the season hinges on J.J. Wetherholt: He has not debuted in the big leagues yet. He might not break camp with the team. But the Cardinals are in full rebuild mode, so the solace they’ll take out of the 2026 season has as much to do with how it presages their future as it says about today.
Wetherholt, the seventh pick in the 2024 draft, has looked the part of a big leaguer during spring training. And as much as the Cardinals would like the draft pick they could possibly reap by promoting him at the start of this season, the allure of an extra year of team control gained by sending him to the minor leagues for the beginning of the season might be stronger. Either way, evaluators who have seen Wetherholt agree: He’s ready for the big leagues now.
How to win your fantasy league: If you’re in a league with the minimum number of games to qualify at a position is 10, you’re in luck: Iván Herrera can play catcher — and he wields the sort of bat, like Ben Rice, unique to the position. If it’s 15 … sorry, you’ll have to wait until he reaches it this season. And though St. Louis believes his defense behind the plate has improved to where he’s passable there, it’s unclear how often Herrera will catch. Either way, he has enough power to warrant playing in a utility or DH slot and has an ADP of 258. It’s a great flier.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Dustin May is the most sought-after starting pitcher at the deadline. After averaging 95.4 mph on his fastball last season, May is pushing 98 this spring. When he’s healthy — and he looks it after a scary incident in 2024 when a piece of lettuce lodged in his throat and caused an esophageal tear — May brings frontline-type stuff. Though his numbers were just OK last season, he threw a career-high 132⅓ innings, and if he can back that up with another full year of health, he could be a free agent prize next winter. St. Louis is in a position to trade anyone who performs, so May is worth watching.
NL West
Why the season hinges on Corbin Carroll: Carroll’s return from surgery to repair a broken hamate hook came shockingly fast, which isn’t entirely surprising considering Carroll’s propensity to work and his desire to play. As great as Ketel Marte is, Carroll is the heart of Arizona, and his career-best 2025 season portends even more in 2026.
The Diamondbacks are the epitome of a team that’s good but not necessarily good enough — particularly their pitching. Carroll turning in a seven-win season — the sort of which he’s capable — would go a long way toward separating Arizona from the rest of the NL pack chasing the Dodgers and mitigating the apprehension about their arms. If Carroll’s first game back is any indication — he smacked a ball 114 mph — he’s going to be just fine.
How to win your fantasy league: Hope that this is finally the year Jordan Lawlar becomes the guy Arizona anticipated he would be when it summoned him to the big leagues shortly after his 21st birthday. In the two years since, Lawlar has struggled amid questions about his position (he’s in left field now after stints at shortstop, third base and second base) and weak big league at-bats. By now it’s clear he’s too good for Triple-A. Taking a late-round shot on a prospect who has lost some luster is never a bad strategy, especially if he’s got multi-position eligibility.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Geraldo Perdomo becomes a top-three shortstop in baseball this year. Bobby Witt Jr. is by himself at the top of the list. There are plenty of candidates for the next two spots, and while an argument can be made that Perdomo is already there after his seven-win 2025, Gunnar Henderson, Corey Seager, Trea Turner, Francisco Lindor, Mookie Betts, Elly De La Cruz, Jeremy Pena, Willy Adames and Zach Neto might have something to say about that. Either way, Perdomo’s skill set — more walks than strikeouts, power, speed, glove — puts him in a position to lock up the spot in 2026.
Why the season hinges on Chase Dollander: With an average fastball approaching 99 mph this spring, Dollander is the best raw arm the Rockies have produced since Ubaldo Jiménez was carving fools in 2010. The Rockies’ new regime, led by president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta, wants to upend all of the bad habits instilled by previous regimes and turn Colorado into a place where pitchers can succeed. And in the 24-year-old Dollander, taken ninth in the 2023 draft, the Rockies have quite the lump of clay to mold. With an excellent curveball and cutter, Dollander’s stuff is beyond reproach. As much of a cemetery as Coors Field is for pitchers, a successful 2026 for Dollander would go a long way toward proving the new Rockies are different than the ones that lost 119 games last year and have finished in fourth or fifth in the NL West 12 of the past 15 seasons.
How to win your fantasy league: Plucking Rockies hitters is a tried-and-true fantasy strategy, and while Hunter Goodman and Mickey Moniak are perfectly acceptable choices, Willi Castro comes with an additional benefit beyond playing half his games in extreme altitude: versatility. There is no worse feeling for a fantasy baseball player than a rash of injuries, and the antidote to that is multi-position backups to stem the bleeding. Castro is no world-beater. If he’s playing every week, there’s a pretty good chance you are awful at fantasy baseball. But every team needs a super-utility man, and you could do plenty worse than one that plays in Colorado.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Charlie Condon is batting second for the Rockies by June. The third overall pick in 2024, Condon struggled in his first professional season but rebounded with a solid 2025. He has taken consistently impressive at-bats this spring, hitting three home runs and limiting his strikeouts. While it’s true he has had only 200 Double-A at-bats and that the Rockies are incentivized to wait until they’re not god-awful to start the service clock on their best prospects, Condon is going to hit his way out of the minor leagues at some point, and when he does, little will stand in the way between him and a prime position in the batting order.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Why the season hinges on Shohei Ohtani: Beyond the fact that he’s the best player in the world, Ohtani’s presence impacts the Dodgers’ lineup and rotation. Though nobody expects Ohtani to throw a standard starter’s complement of innings this season, he plans to exceed the 47 he threw last year. What sort of effect that has on his at-bats remains to be seen, as Ohtani’s best pitching season (2022) coincided with his worst hitting season and was the only time in the past five years he didn’t win MVP. Whatever Ohtani does, it will be better than everyone else because that’s who he is, and that’s where we are in this most magnificent of baseball careers.
How to win your fantasy league: The Dodgers’ propensity to run through pitchers is a hallmark of their ability to solve problems of their own creation, and nobody embodies that like River Ryan. The 27-year-old right-hander, acquired in 2022 trade less than a year after San Diego drafted him in the 11th round from UNC-Pembroke, debuted two years later with an array of nastiness before blowing out his elbow four starts into his big league career.
He is back now, and with Ohtani’s limitations, Blake Snell’s unclear status and Los Angeles’ propensity to slow-play the regular season, Ryan should get plenty of innings. And if his stuff this spring is any indication, they will be very good ones.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Kyle Tucker puts up the best year of his career. And that’s saying something. For the past five years, Tucker has been a consistent five-win player. In the middle of the Dodgers’ lineup and in a place where he can blend into the background, Tucker is in a setup ideal for his success. Nobody questioned his talent. It’s time for him to show why the Dodgers were willing to dole out $60 million a year for his services.
Why the season hinges on Joe Musgrove: This is something of a yikes scenario, but it’s indicative of where the Padres stand in a landscape owned by the Dodgers. San Diego devoted too much of its payroll to aging and untradeable players, and the consequence of that is a pitching staff thin enough to have the Padres leaning on the right-hander returning from Tommy John surgery.
General manager A.J. Preller has compiled depth arms, certainly, from German Marquez to JP Sears to Griffin Canning, but Musgrove represents San Diego’s best hope at a frontline type to pair with Nick Pivetta and Michael King. Since his last start more than a week ago, Musgrove’s arm has not responded as he hoped. It could be a blip on the radar. It could also be something that causes cascading problems in an already-fragile starting-pitching group.
How to win your fantasy league: Year 2 of Jackson Merrill‘s career included three stints on the injured list and a requisite regression from his near-Rookie of the Year campaign in 2024. Merrill is still just 22, and with a little more patience and a little less swing-and-miss, he can be the sort of player who wins a league. There’s a hazard in choosing him, but the payoff makes it worthwhile because when he’s healthy, he’s a true difference-maker.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … the Padres sell for a record price. After the death of beloved owner Peter Seidler and a fight for control of the franchise, the Padres are up for sale with a number of wealthy luminaries involved. Just how high the bidding goes is up to the billionaires and their desire to own a team that has shown spending money and breeding success can juice franchise values. Multiple sources familiar with the sale process said they expect the Padres to fetch more than $3 billion, a significant bump from the record $2.4 billion Steve Cohen paid for the New York Mets in November 2020.
San Francisco Giants
Why the season hinges on Rafael Devers: Similar to the Diamondbacks, the Giants are a good team in need of bravura performances to separate them from a muddled NL. It’s why they were willing to take on more than a quarter of a billion dollars in future salaries to acquire him last June from Boston. Devers was very good in his 90 games with the Giants, but $250 million-plus is a hefty sum for a first baseman with a 130 OPS+.
Hitting at Oracle Park isn’t easy, even for a savant like Devers, and though nobody expects him to be Barry Bonds, he needs to be more than he was last season. The best of Devers can punch a playoff ticket for the Giants. The same-old, same-old from him could mean the same-old, same-old for San Francisco.
How to win your fantasy league: Saves can be hard to come by and expensive, which makes Ryan Walker the sort of closer worth targeting. Though he lost the job last season, the Giants are giving him another shot this year, and as the 25th-ranked reliever with an ADP of 247, he’s one of the best values in fantasy baseball this season.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Bryce Eldridge winds up in the middle of the Giants’ order this season. He might not be with the Giants on Opening Day because of roster gymnastics, but at some point this season, he will hit himself into the mix. He’s ready for the big leagues, his ceiling is higher than just about everyone on the roster now, and the Giants need to do everything they can to supplement Devers, Willy Adames, Matt Chapman and the rest of the veterans who make for a good big league team that would prefer to be great.
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