The 2025 Baseball season comes to an end with the Los Angeles Dodgers winning the World Series for the second year straight. This season, fans saw some teams improve and some fall hard of the cliff. Here are three teams who succeeded and three teams who dropped the ball literally. 

 

Disappointment: Los Angeles Angels

OK, seriously, the Angels don’t have a sense of direction, and the 2025 season was a prime example. The Angels finished with a 72-90 record this year. While it was nice to see shortstop Zach Neto having a solid season and outfielders Jo Adell and Taylor Ward almost hit 40 home runs, the rest of the team needs to step up in order for a better 2026 season. Pitching was not much better. In fact, their biggest player Yusei Kikuchi did alright, but it was not his best performance. Closer Kenley Jansen did fine while throwing 29 saves during the season, but he also could have played harder. This off season, our Angels really need to look hard in the mirror and pick a direction for their team. It’s sad that they have had franchise icon outfielder Mike Trout since drafting him in 2009 and one playoff appearance to show for. That’s just embarrassing. 

 

Surprise: Toronto Blue Jays

What a season for the Toronto Blue Jays! Not only did they tie with the New York Yankees, but they made it to the World Series for the first time since 1993. Toronto had a fantastic season from stars Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Daulton Varsho and George Springer playing phenomenally throughout their games. They also had solid pitching from Max Scherzer, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, José Berrios and Yariel Rodriguez. Despite losing in the World Series, manager John Schneider did a really good job leading the Toronto Blue Jays this season. Better things are coming for the Blue Jays. Get excited, Blue Jays fans!

 

Disappointment: Pittsburgh Pirates 

I am so sorry, Pittsburgh Pirates fans, that owner Bob Nutting is completely destroying the team! Once again, this team needs help building their skills around Paul Skenes! Seriously, do they not know what winning means? Pitchers Skenes and David Bednar showed up for the entire season. Alongside them were outfielders and designated hitter Andrew McCutchen, Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds. No one else’s skills were anywhere to be seen throughout the season! Also, Derek Shelton, to no one’s surprise, was let go after a 12-26 record. Don Kelly, who managed the rest of the season with a 59-65 record, was let go too. There is no hope for the Pittsburgh Pirates. I doubt we will see any championships in the Pirate’s near future. Since becoming owner in 2007, and only making the playoffs four times since then, Bob Nutting seriously needs to look at himself in the mirror and prioritize the players and fans. I don’t know when the misery will end for Pirate fans. 

 

Surprise: Seattle Mariners

Great season for the Seattle Mariners! Not only did they make the playoffs for the first time since 2022, they finished this year with a 92-70 record which is pretty fantastic. They made it to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2001 unfortunately falling short to the Toronto Blue Jays. Part of the reason they were so good was that catcher Cal Raleigh had one of the best recent seasons by a player of his position since Salvador Perez in 2021. Raleigh hit nearly 60 home runs, with 125 runs batted in. They also had solid seasons from Julio Rodriguez, Jorge Polanco and Josh Naylor who they got from this year’s trade deadline. The Mariners pitching team—made up of Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, Bryan Woo along with Eduard Bazardo and Andres Munoz from the bullpen—was fantastic this season. I want to see the Seattle Mariners keep improving, because baseball deserves to see the Seattle Mariners win a World Series. 

 

Disappointment: Arizona Diamondbacks 

Honestly, I thought the Diamondbacks would bounce back and make the playoffs after a disappointing 2024 season. Turns out I was wrong. Now, the Diamondback did have good seasons from outfielder Corbin Carroll, who had a 32 home run season and also led all of Major League Baseball in triples. The pitching was disappointing. Pitcher Corbin Burnes was good in 11 games before getting Tommy John surgery, a procedure to reconstruct the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in the elbow. Closer Shelby Miller was fantastic, but that was about it. I was hoping Zac Gallen would bounce back and be an All-Star Caliber pitcher but he was really disappointing, with a 13-15 record and a 4.83 earned run average. I sure hope the Diamondbacks improve in the offseason to make the playoffs because I still remember the glory days where  they made it to the World Series back in 2023. Let’s have hope, Diamondback fans. 

 

Surprise: Cleveland Guardians 

Throughout most of this season, it felt like the Cleveland Guardians were either going to fall short and miss the playoffs or just barely make it past the next game. I did not expect them to win the division. Cleveland’s hitting was OK, but not perfect. Left-fielder Steven Kwan and third baseman Jose Ramirez all had very good seasons while the rest of the team was just. Cleveland’s pitching felt like a case of two. Their bullpen was amazing, led by relievers Jakob Junis, Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis and Nic Enright while their starting pitching wasn’t really good throughout the year. Manager Stephen Vogt did a pretty good job pushing the guardians to win the American League Central Division and to the playoffs—even though they lost in the American League Wild Card round to the Detroit Tigers. This offseason, Cleveland should focus on making the team championship caliber enough to not only make it to the World Series, but trying to win a World Series for the first time since 1948. This offseason will determine the direction for the Cleveland Guardians, but their pitching will be hurt without Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase. Hopefully they can mend their team lineup to do better in the future. 

 

Overall, the 2025 baseball season was very exciting to watch. The offseason will be interesting to see who improves for the 2026 season. As a Baseball fan, I can only imagine how fun the 2026 season will be. Â