{"id":376148,"date":"2025-12-29T16:23:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T16:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/376148\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T16:23:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T16:23:08","slug":"your-top-10-mlb-stories-of-2025-plus-christmas-week-catch-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/376148\/","title":{"rendered":"Your top 10 MLB stories of 2025. Plus: Christmas week catch-up"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Windup Newsletter \u26be | This is The Athletic\u2019s MLB<\/a> newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Windup directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a special year-end edition of the Windup: We have the 10 stories you found the most interesting (or at least\u00a0clickable), both overall and each month. Plus, we\u2019ll try to catch you up on everything that happened over Christmas week in the links. I\u2019m Levi Weaver, welcome to The Windup!<\/p>\n

Countdown: Prospects, rankings, All-Stars and a bizarre home run<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with Nos. 10 through 4 of The Windup\u2019s most-clicked stories this year:<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0Trevor Story\u2019s weird Pesky Pole home run<\/a>:\u00a0It only went 306 feet. It bounced off Jhonkensy Noel\u2019s glove, then the right-field pole at Fenway Park, then the glove again, then into the stands. That\u2019s technically a home run, even if it feels a lot more like a pinball fever dream.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0All the picks from Day 1 of the 2025 draft<\/a>:\u00a0This tracks. You need to know who your team is going to be relying on in 2028.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0What rival evaluators were saying about Yankees prospect George Lombard Jr.<\/a>:\u00a0The kid got off to a blazing start in High A. \u201cHe\u2019s not going to be (at High A) for long,\u201d said one scout after that 22-game stretch. Two games later, Lombard was in Double A, where he hit .215 (.695 OPS) in 108 games. He\u2019s 20, there\u2019s time.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0MLB insiders rank starting pitchers<\/a>:\u00a0Andy McCullough, Will Sammon and others talked to a panel of 20 experts to determine which pitchers were aces, reliable workhorses and \u201cjust a guy.\u201d They got it right, too. The top two spots went to this year\u2019s Cy Young winners (Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes).<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0Ken Rosenthal\u2019s early-July predictions for the All-Star rosters<\/a>:\u00a0Say what you will about the shortcomings of the Summer Classic: People still care a lot about it, and it\u2019s still the best All-Star Game in pro sports, hands down. The actual game ended up being a banger, too. Tied 6-6 after nine innings, we got our first \u201cswing-off,\u201d with Kyle Schwarber banging three home runs to give the NL a 4-3 edge (thus technically winning the game 7-6).<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0New Era Texas Rangers hat bearing accidental Spanish vulgarity disappears from online shop<\/a>:\u00a0It\u2019s still funny.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Putting the top 100 position players into tiers<\/a>:\u00a0This came just before Opening Day: Tyler Kepner, Aaron Gleeman and Eno Sarris dropped their top 100 position players. This one didn\u2019t quite nail the 2025 season in advance \u2014 Gunnar Henderson and Mookie Betts both endured extended slumps, and AL MVP Cal Raleigh was listed at Tier 3 \u2014 but I think that\u2019s within the forgivable margin. If you saw Raleigh hitting 60 home runs back in March, raise your hand so we can identify the liars in the chat.<\/p>\n

3, 2, 1: Disaster, prospect rankings and an exclusive interview<\/p>\n

Now presenting the three most popular baseball stories of 2025, based on what Windup readers clicked \u2026 \ud83e\udd41\ud83e\udd41\ud83e\udd41<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0The recap of Orion Kerkering\u2019s season-ending gaffe<\/a>:\u00a0As I said the day after this happened, Phillies fans: Do not click that link. Dodgers fans, you either. You\u2019ve had enough good times over the last two years; don\u2019t be greedy. Nobody click that link.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Keith Law\u2019s top 100 prospects<\/a>:\u00a0I\u2019m not sure if these clicks were all from the first day I posted about it, or if they were compiled from all the times I went back to reference it throughout the year, but either way: It\u2019s an essential tool every year when prospects are called up or traded.<\/p>\n

And finally \u2026<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Sam Blum\u2019s interview with former Twins prospect Derek Bender, who was accused of telling hitters what was coming<\/a>:\u00a0It was a shocking story when it first came out, but Blum was the first reporter to get a full interview with Bender, back in February. It was an amazing read, and if you somehow missed it at the time, I\u2019m glad I get to tell you about it now.<\/p>\n

In Other Words: Our most-clicked by month<\/p>\n

Sometimes it\u2019s fun to see the numbers through a different light: Here were the newsletter\u2019s most-clicked stories each month.<\/p>\n

January:\u00a0Keith Law\u2019s top 100<\/a>.<\/p>\n

February:\u00a0Sam Blum\u2019s Bender interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n

March:\u00a0Those position player tiers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

April:\u00a0Max Fried took the mound in the ninth with a no-hitter intact. Before the first pitch of the inning,\u00a0the no-hitter was over<\/a>.<\/p>\n

May:\u00a0The evaluators on Lombard Jr<\/a>.<\/p>\n

June:\u00a0Our player poll was clear: Nobody wanted to play for the A\u2019s.\u00a0Here\u2019s who the players said they\u2019d rather play for<\/a>.<\/p>\n

July:\u00a0Rosenthal\u2019s All-Star Game rosters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

August:\u00a0Willson Contreras\u00a0was ejected and threw a bat<\/a>, and people needed to know details.<\/p>\n

September:\u00a0Story\u2019s Pesky Pole ricochet home run<\/a>.<\/p>\n

October:\u00a0Again, Phillies fans:\u00a0do. not. click. this. link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

November:\u00a0Zack Meisel\u2019s in-depth reporting on the\u00a0details of the gambling scandal in Cleveland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

December:\u00a0Bryce Harper\u2019s\u00a0weird blood treatment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Handshakes and High Fives<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a favorite annual tradition: Jayson Stark\u2019s two-part end-of-year recap of the weirdness of baseball. First up: the\u00a0most Strange But True moments of 2025<\/a>. And second: the\u00a0most bizarre injuries of 2025<\/a>, including a Target run that went haywire.<\/p>\n

Speaking of annual traditions: Tyler Kepner\u2019s\u00a0annual quiz is here<\/a>. Good luck.<\/p>\n

Bryce Harper is the latest star to\u00a0join Team USA\u2019s roster<\/a>\u00a0for the 2026 WBC.<\/p>\n

Signings and trades: Tyler Soderstrom (seven-year extension, A\u2019s<\/a>), Pete Fairbanks (one year, Marlins<\/a>), Ryan O\u2019Hearn (two years, Pirates<\/a>), Jacob Webb (one year, Cubs<\/a>), Hunter Harvey (also one-year deal, Cubs<\/a>), Zach Eflin (one year, back to the Orioles<\/a>) and Jeff McNeil (traded from Mets to A\u2019s<\/a>).<\/p>\n

And in memorabilia you can\u2019t afford: A Honus Wagner T-206 is\u00a0leaving a family after 116 years<\/a>, and the Shohei Ohtani 50\/50 ball is\u00a0still involved in litigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Most-clicked in our last newsletter: We have a three-time winner, and it\u2019s Ron Washington\u2019s\u00a0first-base comment<\/a>\u00a0from \u201cMoneyball.\u201d You guys, it\u2019s literally just an eight-second YouTube clip. I want to direct you to click something else, but also: This\u00a0is funny, so keep the bit going if you want to. I\u2019m not your dad.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love The Windup? Check out\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Windup Newsletter \u26be | This is The Athletic\u2019s MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-376148","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}