What's The Matter? MLB 2025 Edition

Welcome back to one of my favorite pieces that I do: What’s the Matter? In these write-ups, I take a look at the biggest disappointments of the season from each league. If you’ve been following me for a while, you probably read my NHL, NFL, and NBA ones. I’m due for another MLB write-up. It’s been a while. There will be a lot of changes coming to the MLB in the near future with ABS (Automatic Balls & Strikes) being implemented to allow both batter and pitchers to challenge the call. Arguing balls and strikes used to get you automatically ejected from the game, but now you can just tap your helmet for a challenge with no penalty. I’m still on the fence about it, but with a few adjustments and more accurate readings, I think it’ll be good for the league. Too many at bats have ended with bad or missed calls/ The game needs to be accurate.

Other changes include an inevitable lockout (as some people think) over the salary cap issue. This would not be the first lockout, and it won’t be the last. In previous lockouts, players went on strike because they weren’t making enough money, but with people incessantly complaining about the Dodgers overspending, will they go on strike for making too much? Will the league see a true salary cap and floor that isn’t some magical “luxury tax?” This might be controversial, but I support the floor more than I support the cap. “But the small markets!” No, there are no small markets, only cheap owners. Teams don’t make their money from fans buying jerseys and hot dogs. They make money from groups of investors and/or generational wealth. If owners and investors are frugal, they will spend less, hoping to make more, and then their team sucks. If a team is smart with their investments, then I say let them spend as much as they want. But hey, what do I know? I’m just a guy writing his opinions on the internet.

Tier 1 Disappointments - Biggest Letdowns!

Atlanta Braves (76-86): 4th in NL East

As a lifelong Braves (and also Mariners) fan, I saw this one coming. The disappointment was still immeasurable, though. The Braves were once again decimated by injuries to their rotation and key positional players. I can’t even begin to list all of the pitchers that were injured, but I will discuss the consequences of it. A lot of these injuries were season-ending elbow/shoulder injuries: Tommy John, rotator cuff, various other forearm injuries. Yeah, that’s not good. There are tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars sitting on the IL for the Braves, and these injuries take a long time to recover from. Some players are never the same afterwards either. You can’t fault the players for getting injuries, and I’m not. It makes me wonder what mechanics they are using or being taught, though. There are too many consistent injuries for it to be entirely a coincidence. They let their workhorse SP Max Fried walk in free agency to join the Yankees, and he had another dominant year. I bet they regret not paying him to stick around.

Speaking of, Atlanta really felt the absences of SS Dansby Swanson, 1B Freddie Freeman, and C Travis d’Arnaud this year. Shortstop has been a consistent hole for years, and they have yet to find a viable replacement for Dansby. 1B Matt Olson has not missed a single game since he joined the Braves lineup, but his fading production makes fans wonder if they made the right decision to let Freddie go. (Hint: they didn’t). Catcher Sean Murphy, who I call Humpty Dumpty, once again landed on the IL multiple times this year. Rookie Drake Baldwin had a very solid year behind the dish, but it wasn’t enough. The Braves have really created their own storm and are now upset that it’s raining. Their business model relies on analytics instead of culture, shareholder profits instead of fan experience, and big name trade pieces instead of homegrown stars. It’s no wonder that this season finally blew up in their face. It’s been a long time coming. When you see people as assets instead of human beings, don’t be surprised when they won’t stick around.

New York Mets (83-79): 2nd in NL East

An above .500 record usually isn’t a disappointing season for many teams, but when you spend nearly $1 billion on a single player (Juan Soto), have the highest payroll of any team, and fail to make the playoffs, that’s pretty disappointing. The Mets completely revamped their pitching staff and fielding depth this offseason, but early season injuries derailed their whole gameplan. The magic of the “OMG Mets” from 2024 disappeared as quickly as it came. Grimace was nowhere to be found either. The New York Mess is their colloquial name, but I find it to be quite fitting most of the time. This team consistently underwhelms and collapses late in the season. A red hot April start for them was not enough to hold off the Phillies, and injuries mounted as the season went on. This roster was deeper than last year’s, but they still weren’t able to recover from all of them. Some players served multiple stints on the IL this season too.

I know I shouldn’t be, but I’m a bit surprised by the Mets disappointing season. They’ve had a stretch of good seasons in recent years, and I thought the trend would continue with the NL East being as weak as it was. It did not. They are now trending in the other direction after recent statements about cornerstones 1B Pete Alonso and 2B Jeff McNeil. Mets owner Steve Cohen has openly admitted to shopping McNeil and only wanting Alonso to return on a “team friendly” deal. Well, Alonso already returned on a team friendly deal just two seasons ago. It’s time for the man to get paid, and he will. If the Mets won’t do it, then maybe their crosstown rival Yankees will. Other rumors I’ve heard floating around would land him in Boston or Seattle. Either way, it doesn’t sound like he’s sticking around despite his love for the team. The NL East will be wide open next year with major changes coming to Atlanta, Philly, and now New York.

Texas Rangers (81-81): 3rd in AL West

For a team that could literally not get over .500 all season long, it’s only fitting that their final record was perfectly .500. They boasted the best run differential (+79) in the division, but they were tied with the Angels for the worst away record (33-48). They allowed the least number of runs in all of baseball (605), yet their runs for and total offense were in the bottom third of the league (684). You can’t win if you don’t score. They dealt with injuries late in the season, but their playoff hopes were long gone by then anyways. It’s not like some catastrophic injury derailed their entire season early on. For all of these reasons (and firing their World Series winning manager after this season), I put Texas in my Tier 1 disappointments. They had the talent to go back to the ALCS or World Series, but they couldn’t put the pieces together. The offense fell flat time and time again.

The Rangers front office never really doesn’t tiptoe around issues, and that made that abundantly clear when replacing Manager Bruce Bochy. He won them their first championship in franchise history in 2023, but the buck stopped there. Now they’re taking a different approach with offensive-minded Skip Schumaker at the helm. He coaches with a completely different style than the pitching/defensive-minded Bochy. Unfortunately, Skip might be dealt a bad hand here. This team is already Top 10 in payroll, and the numbers would tell you they’re trying to cut costs where they can. Their starting pitching depth is already razor thin, and the big bats they’re paying a lot of money for (Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Adolis Garcia) haven’t regained their championship form. Was 2023 just a fluke, or all of these guys slumping at the same time? Will their young pitching prospects Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker save this rotation alongside Jacob DeGrom? There are a lot of questions and not a lot of answers going into next season.

Tier 2 Disappointment - Bummer, but not as bad as the others

Arizona Diamondbacks (80-82): 4th in NL West

Much like their 2023 World Series foes, the D-Backs never recovered from that series. It seems like both teams are suffering quite the hangover. It’s a bit unprecedented, but at the same time, it makes sense. Both of those 2023 squads were loaded with players all having career years at the same time. OF Corbin Carroll was a rookie, who then slumped in 2024 but rebounded in 2025, was playing alongside some unlikely heroes like OF Lourdes Guirrel Jr. and 1B Christian Walker, and their 3-man rotation of Zac Gallen, Brandon Pfaadt, and Merrill Kelly were pitching lights out. It was a roster built to stand the test of time. What Arizona couldn’t account for was Father Time working faster for some teams than others. They got wiped out this year. I’m not sure what ancient tomb they uncovered, but they looked cursed from the very beginning. Their veteran bullpen moves aged like milk, and prized free agent SP Corbin Burnes blew out his arm back in June.

The long list of injuries included guys 1B Josh Naylor and 3B Eugenio Suarez, but luckily they were timely enough to ship them both off to Seattle. They enjoyed a nice ALCS run together there. They also sent Merrill Kelly to the Rangers. As for the D-Backs, well, they didn’t get much in return. These moves were practically salary dumps. In theory, this works because they now have to convince Zac Gallen to stay, Merrill Kelly to come back, and any other roleplayers to extend their time on a roster that has been Frankensteined together. Apart from Carroll and 2B Ketel Marte, some positions on this team are ever-changing. That’s not exactly a recipe for success, and I believe that is one of the many pitfalls of moneyball. Teams need culture. Teams need consistency. The D-Backs haven’t been able to provide that for much of their franchise history. They have flashes of greatness before fading back into obscurity. They would be smart to acquire some solid pitchers and pave the way for their position player prospects (OF Druw Jones and 3B Gino Groover, whom I personally know quite well).

Anyone else?

Sure, you could throw teams like the Astros, Giants, and Royals in here, but these teams didn’t exactly have high hopes. The Astros and Giants are building for the future: pursuing free agents, developing draft picks, and have been relatively quiet in the trade market. The Royals are as cheap as ever. They got lucky making the playoffs last year. Too bad lightning doesn’t strike twice.

Playoff Letdowns?

Yankees, Cubs, Padres, Brewers? To be expected, really. I didn’t think any of those teams had it in ‘em to take down the mighty mighty Dodgers. Apparently the Blue Jays did and just got extremely unlucky (multiple times). The Phillies were a major letdown for many people, but as for me, I saw it coming. They always lose their momentum after the bye week and their aging roster just can’t keep up anymore. The Red Sox, Mariners, and Guardians were actually the exact opposite of letdowns. They soared above expectations, and I think Boston has a lot more in store for next year.

The End

Another season is in the books. It was a good one. I’ll keep my eye on the offseason moves and upcoming Winter Meetings, and I’ll report back in February/March when I do my 2026 predictions. Thanks for following along and being a part of this journey.