The Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System is \u2026<\/p>\n
A welcome introduction. Recent years have seen a tactical flattening of the game with the introduction of the universal DH, the banning of the shift and the three-batter minimum rule, but this adds an interesting wrinkle to game management. The league table of catchers\u2019 challenge percentages will be fascinating. AE<\/p>\n
The robo-ump makes me sick, but I also didn\u2019t love the pitch clock and I could never go back to 3hr 45min games. In the end I think we\u2019ll all get used it fairly quickly. Phillies left-hander Jes\u00fas Luzardo claimed he wouldn\u2019t use it all year and didn\u2019t make it one inning<\/a> before he reversed course. BAG<\/p>\n Count me among the naysayers. There\u2019s something pure about a pitcher figuring out the nuances of a particular ump\u2019s strike zone. And ABS minimizes an important aspect of a catcher\u2019s repertoire: framing. MJ<\/p>\n Umps have gone from God to gotcha thanks to instant replay and now, ABS. It\u2019s been a slow, painful demise for the men in blue and now umps will be emasculated even more acutely. That said, strike zones will become more consistent, and once the umps just give up and learn what the computer likes, we\u2019ll probably see fewer challenges and fewer embarrassing moments. DL<\/p>\n Shohei Ohtani is the greatest player since \u2026<\/p>\n Eddy Merckx? Michael Phelps? Jan Zelezny? Leonidas of Rhodes? Secretariat? At this point you have to look beyond baseball and start making comparisons with other sports\u2019 greatest ever competitors. What he is doing should be impossible. AE<\/p>\n He\u2019s the greatest to ever do it, full stop. Ruth never faced 100mph sliders. Bonds never took the mound. Ohtani\u2019s doing both at historic levels in the analytics age. BAG<\/p>\n There really is no comp for the value and domination Ohtani has brought to the game. No offense to The Babe, but he wasn\u2019t exactly hitting off flamethrowers or throwing the ball 100mph like Ohtani. MJ<\/p>\n Himself! Ruth made 36 starts over two years before his hitting prowess forced him off the mound, while Ohtani has made nearly 90 starts over the past four seasons in which he has hit full-time. You can\u2019t take your eyes off him. DL<\/p>\n Konnor Griffin is one of a number of exciting prospects to watch this season. Photograph: Chris O\u2019Meara\/APWhat I\u2019m most looking forward to \u2026<\/p>\n Last year was supposed to be the year the Orioles\u2019 young stars properly broke through. Instead, it was a disaster \u2013 players couldn\u2019t find a rhythm, injuries piled up and the rest of the American League East was the strongest it had been in years. But the young core is back, Pete Alonso has joined, there\u2019s a new manager, and the new owners seem to be more ambitious than the Angelos family was. AE<\/p>\n Seeing whether October bends to LA once more or finally breaks them. We haven\u2019t seen this kind of superteam-v-the field tension since the fin-de-si\u00e8cle Yankees. The Dodgers feel like a team all but nailed-on for a coronation, which usually means something weird is coming<\/a>. The fun will be finding out which contender, if any, is bold enough to disrupt it. BAG<\/p>\n Exciting prospects. From elite infielders Konnor Griffin (Pirates), Jes\u00fas Made (Brewers), Kevin McGonigle (Tigers) and JJ Wetherholt (Cardinals) to power hitters Travis Bazzana (Guardians) and Sebastian Walcott (Rangers), there\u2019s a great chance at least a couple of these prospects become household names. MJ<\/p>\n MLB and the MLB Players\u2019 Association using every minute of this season to get together and figure out the next collective bargaining agreement. This is hard to believe, but baseball is actually on the rise for the first time in for ever after a great season, World Series and World Baseball Classic. It has real momentum, and to have an extended work stoppage<\/a> that cancels or shrinks next season is sports suicide. DL<\/p>\n Young player to watch \u2026<\/p>\n Orioles catcher Samuel Basallo played 31 games last year and averaged just .165, but the Camden Yards front office clearly saw something in him and signed him to an eight-year extension. Spring training is largely meaningless but the 21-year-old finished it with an OPS of 1.115 including several big home runs. Everyone in Baltimore loves Adley Rutschman, but if he has another down year, Basallo will be waiting in the wings. AE<\/p>\n Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony feels like the next face-of-the-league test case: a blue-chip prospect with only 71 games of big-league experience fixed to be the everyday leadoff hitter for an AL East contender. One of the World Baseball Classic\u2019s breakout stars, the 21-year-old has even been hyped as a MVP candidate<\/a>. BAG<\/p>\n Travis Bazzana. It\u2019s not just that Bazzana, drafted first overall by the Guardians in 2024, is Australian. The kid was balling out this spring. The infield prospect\u2019s power was on display for Team Australia in the WBC and for the Guardians \u2013 he hit two homers in a game last weekend. Bazzana will start in Triple A but there\u2019s already buzz around his presumed call-up, which could turn the back-to-back AL Central winner into even more of a juggernaut. MJ<\/p>\n Well, the Pirates have a two-for-one now that pitching phenom Bubba Chandler has earned a spot on the rotation. The onetime two-way player who gave up the dream to focus on pitching will be Pittsburgh\u2019s fifth hurler after Buccos brass wisely decided to start the 23-year-old rather than put him in the bullpen. DL<\/p>\n MVP winners will be \u2026<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to look beyond Ohtani in the National League, for reasons outlined above. In the AL it\u2019s trickier \u2013 Cal Raleigh deserved it last year, but Aaron Judge plays in a major market, is relentlessly consistent, and has shown he\u2019s not a one-off. AE<\/p>\n It\u2019s Ohtani in the NL and the Mariners\u2019 Julio Rodr\u00edguez in the AL. The 25-year-old Rodr\u00edguez, just entering his prime, has the supporting cast in place to turn his electric tools into a season too overwhelming for voters to overlook. BAG<\/p>\n Ohtani (NL) and Bobby Witt Jr (AL). Make that four in a row for Ohtani. The AL race is a tad more fun, and I\u2019ll cast a vote for Witt to double down on his all-around dominant 2025 and regain the batting title he won in 2024. MJ<\/p>\n Let\u2019s be honest: the only way Ohtani and Judge don\u2019t win the MVP awards is if they get hurt. DL<\/p>\n AL East winners \u2026<\/p>\n The Yankees. Toronto were one the league\u2019s luckiest teams last year and rode that fortune to within one out of winning it all, but are likely to fall back a bit. It\u2019s the strongest division in baseball again, and any of the five teams could win it, but there is always an inevitable feeling about the Yankees. AE<\/p>\n Blue Jays. It\u2019s the most volatile division in baseball, but Toronto\u2019s recent October experience and offensive ceiling give them the narrowest edge. Health is the swing factor, yet if even a portion of the rotation stabilizes, their lineup can outslug anyone in a division where margins are razor-thin. BAG<\/p>\n Red Sox. There are safer picks. The Yankees have a superhero hitter and mostly unchanged roster that was successful in 2025. The Blue Jays were inches away from a World Series victory. It will be hard for Toronto to duplicate that effort, though, especially with Bo Bichette\u2019s departure. But I\u2019m smitten with Boston\u2019s potential give their young talent, how well Anthony hit in the WBC, and adding Ranger Su\u00e1rez to a rotation already featuring Garrett Crochet. MJ<\/p>\n If Gerrit Cole comes back and is healthy and effective, the Yankees will have a superb pitching staff, but I still like the Blue Jays to repeat as AL East winners. Yes, they lost Bichette, but they did sign Japanese third baseman Kazuma Okamoto to help fill their power gap, and the pitching staff is still rock solid. DL<\/p>\n Bobby Witt Jr will lead an exciting Royals team. Photograph: Peter Aiken\/USA Today SportsAL Central winners \u2026<\/p>\n The Royals. Tarik Skubal will depart the Tigers at some point, leaving them significantly weaker. The Guardians are arguably past their peak, which makes it time for the Royals\u2019 decade of rebuilding to finally pay off. AE<\/p>\n Tigers. This is less about dominance than comparative stability. Detroit\u2019s pitching foundation, bolstered by the Framber Valdez addition, gives them a higher floor than rivals with more obvious flaws. In a division defined by uncertainty, the Tigers are the safest pick. BAG<\/p>\n Tigers. Detroit were already the favorite in baseball\u2019s weakest division. Then they signed Valdez. The Royals are intriguing by virtue of Witt\u2019s presence. But none of the teams in the division did much this offseason to bolster their chances. MJ<\/p>\n Oh, the middling Central, where you never know who to pick because, well, who knows? That\u2019s why I\u2019m picking the Royals, with their young talented roster about to be infused with one of the best catching prospects in the sport, Carter Jensen. DL<\/p>\n AL West winners \u2026<\/p>\n The Mariners have such a fun, likable team and it still feels as if they\u2019re on an upswing. All the projections put them well ahead of their division rivals. And even though it would feel extremely Mariners-y for them to miss the playoffs regardless, they are just too well-rounded to fail completely. AE<\/p>\n Mariners. The consensus favorite on merit, Seattle\u2019s elite pitching and improved offense make them the most complete team in the AL. Raleigh may not belt 60 homers again, but paired with a fully unleashed Rodr\u00edguez and a deeper, more balanced lineup, Seattle won\u2019t need a historic outlier to score enough runs. BAG<\/p>\n The Astros are on a clear downward trajectory. The Rangers\u2019 big acquisition of MacKenzie Gore could easily be a bust. The A\u2019s may hit a billion home runs this season, but it won\u2019t be enough to compensate for a weak pitching staff. That leaves the juggernaut Mariners. MJ<\/p>\n We know who it won\u2019t be \u2013 the Angels, whose owner Arte Moreno doesn\u2019t believe winning<\/a> is a top priority for the team\u2019s fans. That\u2019s a hot take! They do actually enjoy winning in Seattle, where the Mariners fell just a game short of reaching their first World Series. Their three-headed pitching monster of Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo and Bryan Woo, mixed with Raleigh and company should have enough to hold off Houston for a second consecutive season. DL<\/p>\n NL East winners \u2026<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a strange offseason for the Mets, but they\u2019re clearly trying to get over their disappointing 2025 quickly by focusing on the immediate future, with short and short-ish contracts for newcomers Bichette, Luis Robert Jr and Freddy Peralta. All have proved their quality and if they gel, they could dominate the division. AE<\/p>\n