MLB offseason previews 2025: What's next for the Rockies, White Sox, Braves, Rangers and other eliminated teams?

The baseball season is a marathon. Each major-league roster is in constant flux as teams deal with surges, slumps, injuries and disappointments throughout the 162-game campaign. When the dust settles, the front office in each city begins analyzing successes and failures and building plans to improve in the future. After all, every year, 29 of 30 teams fall short of the ultimate goal.

With that in mind, as the MLB season nears its conclusion, we are taking a look at every organization as they’re eliminated from postseason contention, highlighting what happened in the 2025 campaign and what’s ahead this offseason.

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Let’s dig in.

Jump to a team by clicking on the links below:

AL East: Blue Jays | Yankees | Red Sox | Rays | Orioles

NL Central: Brewers | Cubs | Reds | Cardinals | Pirates

NL West: Dodgers | Padres | Diamondbacks | Giants | Rockies

It’s difficult to overstate how poorly the Rockies’ season started. Every other team in baseball had at least twice as many wins as Colorado on June 1, when the Rockies sat at 9-50. Things went slightly better after that, but the die had been cast that the Rockies would be the worst team of 2025.

As is often the case, Colorado’s pitching staff has been the worst in baseball. Sure, its hurlers struggled at Coors Field, but they were regularly rocked during road games, too. As of Aug. 23, there wasn’t a single Colorado pitcher with at least 10 starts and an ERA below 5.00. And the relief corps was no better, with Jimmy Herget, Juan Mejia and Victor Vodnik the only relievers who posted somewhat respectable stat lines, with ERAs under 4.10. Read more

The White Sox surpassed their historically low 2024 win total on Aug. 2, which makes the 2025 season an unquestioned step in the right direction. While the team is still miles away from contention, fans on the South Side are starting to see the faces who could be on the roster when the club returns to respectability.

The team’s improvement in 2025 was almost entirely spurred by those on the mound. Shane Smith, Davis Martin and Sean Burke formed the core of the rotation. All three are under 30 and have posted respectable stat lines, with ERAs below 4.30. It’s tough to envision an ace in this bunch, but plenty of teams have found success by rolling out one starter after another who can throw five or six innings and maintain an ERA around 4.00. Read more

Twenty-nine MLB teams won't finish the year as champions. (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports)

Twenty-nine MLB teams won’t finish the year as champions. (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports)

This was a disappointing season for a team expected to ascend. The Nats instead took a step backward. This will be the fifth straight season Washington fails to win 45% of its games, which puts it far off the pace in an NL East that includes some elite teams.

Pitching was the biggest problem, with issues rampant throughout the staff. MacKenzie Gore looked like a frontline starter at the beginning of the season but regressed badly in the second half and landed on the IL near the end of August. Jake Irvin and Mitchell Parker failed to take steps forward, Trevor Williams couldn’t find any success, and Michael Soroka was unable to turn some intriguing skills into a respectable ERA before he was shipped to the Cubs at the trade deadline. Read more

So many Twins had mediocre offensive seasons. Among the disappointments were several of those who were expected to make a real impact. That list is headlined by Royce Lewis, who was again injured and inconsistent. Lewis missed most of the first half due to a hamstring injury and had a .583 OPS in the 42 games he played. He picked things up a bit in the second half, with a .764 OPS through Sept. 13, but it was too little, too late.

Carlos Correa was the other potential star who fell far short of expectations. He produced just seven homers and a .704 OPS in 93 games prior to the trade deadline, when the front office made the decision to send him back to Houston. Given that the team wasn’t far out of the race at that point, it’s easy to see how the Twins’ season could’ve been completely different if Lewis and Correa had been impact players in the first half. Read more

The Pirates’ success this season can be summed up in two words: Paul Skenes. The sophomore ace can make an excellent case for being the best pitcher in baseball, as he could finish his first two big-league seasons with an ERA under 2.00. Skenes seemingly does everything well, dominating hitters on both sides of the plate, striking out batters by the truckload and rarely surrendering walks or home runs. He is the front-runner to take home the NL Cy Young Award and already seems well on his way to a Hall of Fame career.

Of course, Skenes can pitch in only about 20% of the team’s games, so thankfully, he was supported in the rotation by Mitch Keller, who slumped during August but was otherwise effective. They were also joined in late August by Bubba Chandler, who put his elite skill set on full display while appearing mostly as a bulk reliever. The Pirates should finish with a team ERA that’s top-10 in baseball. Read more

The Angels’ biggest failures were on the pitching staff. The starters often struggled to keep the bases clean, which limited how long they could remain in games. The bottom three starters — Tyler Anderson, Kyle Hendricks and Jack Kochanowicz — spent most of the season with ERAs north of 4.50. And aside from Jansen and Brock Burke, the team’s key relievers struggled to log ERAs below 4.00. The staff seemed to consist entirely of innings-eaters, lacking anyone who could make a real difference.

Although the Angels’ offense improved overall, there were still a couple of hitters who let the team down. Luis Rengifo experienced a major offensive decline. Jorge Soler was arguably even more disappointing, as he was expected to be a middle-of-the-lineup presence after he was acquired via trade last October. His play was acceptable during April but then tailed off, and he spent a significant amount of the summer on the IL due to recurring back inflammation. Read more

Athletics (eliminated Sept. 17)

Nick Kurtz opened the season as the organization’s top prospect and will likely finish as the AL Rookie of the Year and the centerpiece of the Athletics’ lineup. The slugger needed time to get acclimated, as he hit .208 with one homer in his initial 23 games. Then he became dominant in late May and stayed that way for the rest of the summer, which included one of the most memorable single-game performances in MLB history.

Kurtz wasn’t the only A’s rookie to make a major impact. After getting his feet wet last season, Jacob Wilson spent 2025 ranked among the sport’s batting average leaders, and he emerged as a lineup sparkplug who rarely strikes out and has a little more pop than some expected. His campaign was interrupted in late July by a fractured forearm, but by that point Wilson had already established his significant upside. Read more

There were nearly as many disappointments at the plate as there were on the mound. Adley Rutschman was the highest profile letdown. He was supposed to rebound from a poor second half in 2024 and return to being one of the best young catchers in baseball. Instead, Rutschman regressed further, a huge problem when factoring in that he usually hit second in the lineup.

Ascending youngsters Jordan Westburg and Colton Cowser both missed a significant portion of the first half due to injuries, free-agent signee Tyler O’Neill was a massive bust, and Ryan Mountcastle’s contributions were virtually nonexistent. Former prospects such as Heston Kjerstad and Coby Mayo did not take the next step, and with that, a lineup that was supposed to be among the best in baseball was full of holes from top to bottom. Read more

Junior Caminero is at the outset of a memorable career. Just 22 years old, Camerino has already surpassed 40 homers and 100 RBI in his first full MLB campaign. For an organization known for developing pitchers, having a superstar hitter in the heart of the lineup for years to come will be incredibly valuable. The next challenge for Caminero will be to rank among baseball’s best batters without the benefit of George M. Steinbrenner Field, as he was much more effective at home than on the road in 2025.

Caminero wasn’t the only Rays hitter who had a strong season. Jonathan Aranda, Yandy Díaz and Brandon Lowe each made a significant impact. The success of Aranda was especially encouraging, considering he entered the season as a 26-year-old with 293 career at-bats who was running out of time to take the next step. Díaz used the power-inducing nature of his temporary home park to post a career-best homer total, while the oft-injured Lowe was selected for the All-Star Game and will finish with his most games played (149) since 2021. Read more

There was no shortage of disappointments for a team that ended a string of seven consecutive postseason appearances with a clunker. The Braves lost their first seven games of 2025 and never logged the necessary winning streak to bring them close to a winning record. Another rough stretch near the beginning of July sealed their fate as the most disappointing team in the National League. Read more

After having an average offense last year, the Royals were expected to take a step forward with their group of young hitters. Instead, they spent the entire season ranked among the lowest-scoring teams in baseball.

Bobby Witt Jr. continues to be one of the best all-around players in the sport. He fields the shortstop position extremely well and is always dangerous at the plate. That said, there is no hiding the fact that Witt took a major step backward offensively this year. He continued to run the bases aggressively, but his batting average and home run total paled in comparison to his 2024 production. Read more

The Rangers will likely finish the season with the lowest team ERA in MLB. Their rotation was as effective as any in the sport, and despite a lack of high-priced relievers, their bullpen was terrific as well.

Everyone expected Jacob deGrom to pitch well on a per-inning basis, but few would’ve predicted that he would make 30 starts. The 37-year-old no longer averages 99 mph on his fastball, and he won’t rank among the league’s strikeout leaders, but he continues to limit baserunners as well as anyone. And until he went on the IL in late August due to a rotator cuff strain, Nathan Eovaldi could make a case that he was even more valuable than deGrom. The 35-year-old was steady in recent seasons but enjoyed an outstanding 2025 that included a memorable streak of allowing one or fewer runs in 13 of 14 starts from April 25 to Aug. 5. Read more

MLB offseason previews 2025: What’s next for the Rockies, White Sox, Braves, Rangers and other eliminated teams?

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