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No matter which team you are a fan of, I believe you’ll have the same answer to this question: Who is the head of your favorite team’s marketing department?

I’m guessing you’re stumped. And while those men and women do exist, when it comes to setting a vision for why fans should care and why they should invest their time, love and money into the upcoming season, the team president/GM and the manager are the two most important spokespeople to lay out why fans should have hope for the season ahead.

That’s always been the case in baseball, but it’s still an area where modern front offices could learn a thing or two from the past. In the past, clubs may have spent money irrationally at times on the free agent market, but some of that was done with the understanding that fan bases need a reason to care. Nowadays, teams are much more measured and rational, which often is wise. But they also need to provide a bit of hope—even irrational hope—for why fans should care.

So, as we get ready for the new year, we’re going to take a crack at marketing the upcoming 2026 campaign for each team with an offseason sales pitch. We’ll also assess where each team’s fan base sits on a mythical “Hope Meter”, where 1 represents the depths of frustration and despair and 10 is what it’s like to be a modern-day Dodgers fan.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Offseason Sales Pitch: One step forward… one step back
Hope Meter: 5

Arizona went to the World Series in 2023 in a year when they won 84 games. They won 89 games in 2024, but the season seemed like a step back because they missed the playoffs. After an 80-win 2025, the club feels stuck right now at an 80-something win plateau. A Ketel Marte trade could provide help for a pitching staff that needs it, but it would do so by taking away a key part of the lineup, so it would likely do nothing to change a middling Hope Meter rating.

Athletics

Offseason Sales Pitch: Off the field we are a mess, but on the field, we’re actually figuring it out
Hope Meter: 4

Purely in on-field product, the A’s are making big steps. Nick Kurtz, Jacob Wilson, Tyler Soderstrom and Shea Langeliers make for an an excellent young lineup foundation. The rotation is less impressive, but this is a team on the rise. That said, this is a measure of what the fan base feels like, and with the A’s, you have to try to figure out, who exactly is an A’s fan now? The A’s have both torched their relationship with their long-term fan base in Oakland. And they haven’t reached Las Vegas yet. A nomadic team without a true home is searching for a fan base, which dings the Hope Meter.

Atlanta Braves

Offseason Sales Pitch: It was a down year in 2025, but the core remains, so this is about tweaks, not tear-downs
Hope Meter: 6

The Braves’ rotation in 2025 was struck down by elbow injuries, shoulder injuries, rib injuries and seemingly everything other than dysentery. But if there is a team that has earned a mulligan, it’s one that had seven straight playoff appearances, a run of six division titles (2018–2023) and a World Series crown this decade. Also, a team with this many long-term contracts has to stay the course, because the team has veterans at almost every position.

Baltimore Orioles

Offseason Sales Pitch: Last year was unacceptable, and we’re working on it
Hope Meter: 5 (but trending up)

The Orioles have said they are not done, but the additions of Shane Baz, Taylor Ward and Pete Alonso have already given the fan base a much-needed booster shot of hope after a soul-crushing 2025 season that followed a disappointing offseason. The O’s have one of the biggest bumps in the Hope Meter from the end of the 2025 season (crushing despair) to now (cautious hope).

Boston Red Sox

Offseason Sales Pitch: Slowly and steadily, we’re getting back to where you expect us to be
Hope Meter: 5

The Red Sox made clear strides in 2025 thanks in part to the arrival of outfielder Roman Anthony, who looks to be a star for years to come. A fan base that has celebrated four World Series this century isn’t going to be satiated by two winning seasons out of the past six years, but a 90-plus-win season and a deeper playoff run in 2026 would quickly bump the Hope Meter from a five to an eight.

Chicago Cubs

Offseason Sales Pitch: Prudently attempting to contend
Hope Meter: 5

In a division filled with smaller-market/lower-revenue teams, the Cubs do spend but rarely to a level that makes them the clear class of the division. That’s once again the case for 2026. Last year did bring the first playoff appearance since 2020, and the core of that team returns for another season. But the Cubs haven’t made big moves to clearly surpass the Brewers.

Chicago White Sox

Offseason Sales Pitch: We’ve gone from putrid and uninteresting to bad but interesting
Hope Meter: 4

Hope doesn’t always have to be a rational accounting of wins and losses. Bad teams can be interesting, and sometimes good teams can be really boring. The 2023 White Sox were both bad and faceless. This is now an improving team with plenty of reasons to pay attention. Can Colson Montgomery build on 2025? Who is the White Sox’s long-term catcher? Is Munetaka Murakami going to be a slugging star or a whiff machine? The White Sox aren’t ready to be a playoff contender, but they are at least now a team worth watching.

Cincinnati Reds

Offseason Sales Pitch: The pitching staff could take us deep in the playoffs… just don’t ask about the lineup
Hope Meter: 6

The Reds are a sneakily intriguing team that could build on last year’s playoff appearance. The rotation is exceptionally deep, and a healthy Elly De La Cruz could be the team’s biggest star in years. The Hope Meter could jump a couple more ticks if the Reds’ front office can figure out a way to add another bat or two.

Cleveland Guardians

Offseason Sales Pitch: We’ll figure out a way to make it to October—we always do
Hope Meter: 6

Constant low-level success can feel a bit repetitive to fans, but it sure beats the alternatives. The Guardians usually figure out a way to make a playoff run—they have four playoff appearances in the past six years and seven in the past 10—and they’ve only had one really bad season in the past decade. Fans are rewarding the club, as it has topped two million fans in each of the past two seasons after falling below that mark in 16 of the previous 17 seasons.

Colorado Rockies

Offseason Sales Pitch: Once you hit rock bottom, there’s nowhere to go but up
Hope Meter: 2

The only reason this Hope Meter score isn’t a 1 is because the Rockies did make a clear change by hiring Paul DePodesta. Colorado has been a great place to visit for opposing team fan bases. It’s a great park and you can explore downtown Denver, all while watching your team get a series win. It’s going to be a long climb back to contention for long-suffering Rockies fans.

Detroit Tigers

Offseason Sales Pitch: Stay tuned
Hope Meter: 7 (for now)

This is the case of a team whose fan base feels more worried or nervous than most teams in this situation. The Tigers’ past two seasons are their best in the past decade, and they have their best hitting prospect in years arriving soon with Kevin McGonigle. But the second-half collapse in 2025, combined with the Tarik Skubal trade talk, has left the team seemingly straddling a divide. If they don’t trade Skubal, they could be all-in for a World Series run in 2026. With a Skubal trade, they would be widening their contention window while taking a step back for the upcoming season.

Houston Astros

Offseason Sales Pitch: Back to the future
Hope Meter: 4

The return of Carlos Correa—and hopefully the return of Yordan Alvarez to health, too—gives the Astros a chance to make another run in 2026, but the team seems like it has to figure out the loss of a key star every year. This time it’s Framber Valdez, a year after it was Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker. This team is still solid, but it’s hard to lose star after star.

Kansas City Royals

Offseason Sales Pitch: We’re the small-market team with stars you can fall in love with
Hope Meter: 7

The Royals are an example of how a team can energize its fan base even on a relatively modest budget. Fan-favorite Salvador Perez is still around as a reminder of the 2015 champs, but the Royals have also extended Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia for the long term, giving the team an extremely solid base to build from and realistic hope for another playoff appearance in 2026.

Los Angeles Angels

Offseason Sales Pitch: Hopefully Mike Trout has one more all-time season left in him
Hope Meter: 2

At this point, Angels fans know the drill. They have survived 10 straight losing seasons. Never managing to post a winning season when Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani were teammates seems impossible, and that makes it even harder to muster hope now. It’s hard to have more optimism for a team trotting out few stars and a 34-year-old Trout.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Offseason Sales Pitch: Let’s just plan a parade every year
Hope Meter: 10

There’s never been a better time to be a Dodgers fan. They are the most successful team in baseball with a bevy of stars, and there’s no end in sight. This is a fan base whose only current challenge is complacency—and being hated by many other fan bases.

Miami Marlins

Offseason Sales Pitch: Sticking with a plan for multiple years
Hope Meter: 6

The Marlins kept shuffling through GMs, CEOs and managers in the 2020s, but Peter Bendix and Clayton McCullough have actually been in place for a couple of years now. A fan base scarred by numerous zigs and zags and plenty of awful seasons isn’t going to be wowed by much, but the Marlins seem a bit closer to winning 85 games at some point in the future, which is something the club has done once in the past 20 seasons.

Milwaukee Brewers

Offseason Sales Pitch: We’ll figure it out—trust us
Hope Meter: 8

The lack of a World Series appearance during this recent run may sting a bit, but few front offices have earned as much trust as the Brewers. Milwaukee has won the NL Central four of the past five years and has averaged 93 wins a year over the past five seasons. With Jackson Chourio signed to a long-term extension, a great ballpark and a potent pitching staff, fans have a lot to like.

Minnesota Twins

Offseason Sales Pitch: Better days will come again, some day
Hope Meter: 1

If you want an example of a team in desperate need of making an appealing case to its fan base, it’s the Twins. Minnesota was on a roll as recently as 2023. They extended Byron Buxton, signed Carlos Correa and won a playoff series for the first time since 1991. But since then, they squandered all that momentum. Slashing payroll after the 2023 season turned off a fan base that was just starting to believe the team could win. Things got only worse when the club fell just short of the playoffs in 2024 before the 2025 season resulted in a much bigger in-season selloff. So far, the fan base hasn’t really heard much of a pitch for why 2026 should be better.

New York Mets

Offseason Sales Pitch: Generation K 2.0 will be better
Hope Meter: 2

There are multiple logical reasons for the Mets to be ok with getting outbid in attempts to retain Edwin Diaz and Pete Alonso. But this is a measure of how the fan base feels, and so far, this offseason feels like a series of gut punches for Mets fans. The fumble to the finish last year and failure to make the playoffs has bled into an offseason that has seen long-term stars leave with little so far to replace them. The young pitching, led by Nolan McLean, is promising, but the Mets have yet to achieve the juggernaut status fans have dreamed of since Steve Cohen bought the team.

New York Yankees

Offseason Sales Pitch: The offseason isn’t over yet
Hope Meter: 3

Yankees fans can only look enviously at Dodgers fans. It was always hard to find a Yankees fan who didn’t revel in being part of the “Evil Empire,” spending more money and being more successful than everyone else as a fair tradeoff for some jealousy. Now, the jealous looks are aimed at Dodgers fans, and the Yankees are more fiscally prudent, which is not an approach fans seem to enjoy as much. Maybe Cody Bellinger will be re-signed, and the club will get Gerrit Cole back at some point. But so far, the Yankees haven’t really gotten better anywhere this offseason.

Philadelphia Phillies

Offseason Sales Pitch: Kyle Schwarber is back, so we can still bludgeon teams into submission
Hope Meter: 5

Unless J.T. Realmuto is re-signed or another catcher is acquired, this team seems a bit thinner than last year. But the re-signing of Schwarber has kept it from feeling like the end of an era. With Schwarber, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper all 32 years old or older, the window is starting to close, but this is still a star-laden team.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Offseason Sales Pitch: Things really are getting better, believe us. Wait, why don’t you believe us?
Hope Meter: 3 (but trending up)

In almost any other market, this Hope Meter would be at 6 or higher right now. Paul Skenes is an ace. The Pirates have the best prospect in baseball in Konnor Griffin. The farm system has other big league-ready pieces and the rotation looks deep. There’s a lot of reason for hope here, but Pirates fans rightfully have learned to be wary of any and all vestiges of hope. For a team where nothing ever seems to go right, it will take more than promise to juice this Hope Meter.

San Diego Padres

Offseason Sales Pitch: Stay the course
Hope Meter: 7

The potential sale of the team adds some uncertainty, and every year it seems tougher and tougher to catch the juggernaut Dodgers, but there are few fan bases that support their club more than Padres fans in the 2020s. With stars like Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill in their prime, running it (largely) back again for 2026 doesn’t sound all that bad.

San Francisco Giants

Offseason Sales Pitch: Even more reasons to hate the Dodgers
Hope Meter: 4

Being stuck in the same division as the Dodgers is never easy, but until this year, the Giants did have three 21st century World Series titles to show as a trump card against the Dodgers’ continual success. Now even the trophy case has been equaled, which leaves the Giants trying to prove they, not the Padres, are the Dodgers’ biggest rival.

Seattle Mariners

Offseason Sales Pitch: We’re so close
Hope Meter: 8

There’s probably not a Mariners fan in the world unaware that Seattle has never made it to the World Series. But coming off last year’s oh-so-close run to the ALCS, Mariners fans finally have an offseason in which it’s not crazy to believe the drought could end. Seattle has stars in Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez, an exceptional pitching staff and a re-signed Josh Naylor to add more thump. There haven’t been many hopeful periods in Mariners history, and this feels like the most hopeful stretch since the early 2000s.

St. Louis Cardinals

Offseason Sales Pitch: It’s better to take a step back intentionally rather than unintentionally
Hope Meter: 3 (but trending up)

Quietly, there seems to have been few fan bases more frustrated of late than the “Best Fans in Baseball.” St. Louis attendance is down one million fans over just the past three seasons. The 2026 season doesn’t seem like it’s set to be a big turnaround, but changes are afoot. Chaim Bloom is now in charge, and an offseason spent trading away veterans does seem to indicate that 2026 will finally be the year the Cardinals accept they are rebuilding toward a brighter future.

Tampa Bay Rays

Offseason Sales Pitch: This division is brutal, so we’re reorganizing for another run
Hope Meter: 4

The Rays have managed to outpunch their payroll year after year. They’ve had a World Series appearance and a 100-win season this decade. But after back-to-back losing records, the club’s offseason has seen them make moves that seem more focused on 2027 and beyond than next year. Turning Brandon Lowe and Shane Baz into prospects has restocked the farm system, but it won’t help catch the Blue Jays, Yankees, Orioles or Red Sox in 2026.

Texas Rangers

Offseason Sales Pitch: Come take a picture with the 2023 World Series trophy
Hope Meter: 5

The Rangers have a young star in Wyatt Langford and a still-excellent veteran in Corey Seager, but the path to another deep playoff run seems difficult unless Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi can stay healthy all year. It’s a big ask, but the afterglow of 2023’s breakthrough season still burns relatively brightly.

Toronto Blue Jays

Offseason Sales Pitch: You’re gonna want to come out and see if we can do it again
Hope Meter: 9

Coming off an incredible World Series run, the Blue Jays are at a higher point than they have been in decades. There is the question of whether Bo Bichette will be back, but adding Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce to the rotation is enough to push Blue Jays fans into anticipation of what 2026 has in store for a team with a very nice mix of homegrown stars and big-name free-agent signings.

Washington Nationals

Offseason Sales Pitch: What if we admit the last rebuild didn’t take?
Hope Meter: 6

It’s been six seasons since the Nationals won the World Series and five since they embarked on a rebuild. Not only has the team not turned a corner, the hiring of Paul Toboni signals an understanding that further changes had to be made. That’s a good first step and there are some interesting pieces to build around, so this Hope Meter reading hasn’t gone off the deep end.