There is a baseball game! That will be played! Today!

The Dodgers and Cubs kick off Spring Training with the first official game kicking off in about, hopefully, an hour from when you loyal readers are reading this. And tomorrow, we’ll be treated to a full slate of games. We have freaking made it, folks. It’s baseball season.

Whether it be young players who can establish their name or those trying to get back on track after a tough 2024, we’re looking at players across the league who are due for a big season this week. Additionally, we finished our positional rankings with relief pitchers being the final position to break down.

Breakouts and Bounce Backs

Each season, certain players draw our attention for a myriad of reasons. We’ll be keying in on these players over the next few weeks and we’re starting with these two legendarily ubiquitous categories.

Breakout Candidates

Highlighted by several exciting second-year players, the American League has a lot of young hitters ready to shine this season. Junior Caminero, Wyatt Langford, Evan Carter, and Jackson Holliday were among the favorites for Rookie of the Year last season, but none took off. But there will be approximately 0% surprise if they do.

Vinnie Pasquantino, on the other hand, is the most experienced player here and the Royals would seriously appreciate a leap forward.

There may be less flashy names than in the American League, but the National League is still filled with talented young bats. The duo in Washington leads the way as James Wood and Dylan Crews could quickly become one of the best outfield duos in baseball soon.

The Cubs need big seasons from second-year outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and rookie infielder Matt Shaw as they look to vault themselves into contention after a busy offseason. Others like Francisco Alvarez and Matt McLain have established themself already, but still have another tremendous growth potential.

Full Just Baseball Show episode on NL Breakout Candidates coming tomorrow!

Bounce Back Candidates

The American League is headlined by two young stars, Julio Rodriguez and Adley Rutschman, who took a surprisingly large step backward last season.

A couple of players on the trade block, such as Luis Robert Jr. and Bo Bichette heading into this season, could see their value drastically shift depending on their output. Meanwhile, a veteran like Paul Goldschmidt just needs a nice bow to wrap up the twilight of what has been an otherwise excellent career.

Clearly, one team took up a lot of this list. The Braves struggled offensively this season, but have plenty of talented bats led by Austin Riley and Matt Olson who are ready to have a better 2025 season.

With high expectations for the season, the Mets and Padres will need key bats like Brandon Nimmo and Xander Bogaerts (PADRES FAN EDITOR’S NOTE: Please please please please please please) to make more of an impact.

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Just Baseball Trivia of the Week

Our newsletter will have a trivia question every week to test and expand the baseball knowledge of our subscribers! The answer to the weekly trivia question will be at the bottom of the newsletter each week.

What was Corbin Carroll’s post All-Star break OPS in 2024?

A) .856

B) .897

C) .925

D) .919

Top Relief Pitchers for 2025

Relief pitchers are the most volatile players in baseball on a yearly basis. There are bullpen guys that go from A Complete Unknown to stars in one season and others that vacillate between elite production and end-of-the-bench situational appearances.

That makes it extremely hard to rank players. Our staff had a consensus agreement on the top two players in this positional group, but the rest was more all-over-the-place than the season 2 finale of Cobra Kai.

After posting one of the greatest closer seasons of all time in 2024 (and we’re not exaggerating), Emmanuel Clase sits alone at the top. Showing he was unstoppable when at his best last year, Mason Miller claims the second spot behind Clase.

Despite not pitching last season, Orioles closer Felix Bautista slots into third thanks to his elite 2023 season. The next two on the list will be closing for a new team after some offseason movement.

The rest of the top 10 is filled with the best current closers in the game in addition to a pair of young set-up guys who broke out in 2024. Cade Smith had an exceptional rookie season pitching ahead of Clase, while Griffin Jax took a huge step forward in his fourth MLB season with Minnesota.

Hear our full analysis of all the top relievers on the Just Baseball Show!

Other Headlines

• We’ve reached that sneaky point in the offseason when a few minor signings for some quality veteran pieces to round out teams. Justin Turner signed a one-year, $6 million deal with the Cubs. John Means is recovering from Tommy John Surgery but signed a deal with the Guardians that contains a club option for 2026. Paul DeJong signed with Washington, Luke Jackson inked a deal with Texas, and Kendall Graveman joined the Diamondbacks.

• Things have gotten a little interesting in Boston over the past number of days following the signing of Alex Bregman. While Bregman has played third base throughout his career, the Red Sox signed him with the intention for him to play second base due to Rafael Devers being already set in place at third base. Devers made it clear he isn’t interested in switching positions while manager Alex Cora stated that Devers shouldn’t expect to play third because of a promise from someone no longer working with the team. This may very well be nothing, but drama early in Spring Training is never ideal.

• With Spring Training started and an extension not signed, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is expected to hit free agency after this season. He does not intend to negotiate with the Blue Jays during the season and will be an extremely coveted free agent next winter. Read more!

• College baseball season is off and running with an exciting first weekend in the books! Make sure to follow along with our college page On the Clock for excellent college baseball coverage all season.

The Call Up

Once baseball games get rolling, we’ll be delivering bi-weekly MiLB/Prospects newsletters. For now, we’re continuing to update our team top prospect lists before the season kicks off!

In recent weeks, we have published updated lists for the Cubs, Reds, Cardinals, Guardians, Twins, Marlins, and others. We aim to have an updated list for every team come April.

Listen to the The Call Up for full analysis on team prospect lists and read each article below for full scouting reports.

Not Gambling Advice

It’s time to start taking your shot at predicting the course of the MLB season!

That means futures bets. King Peter Appel is starting to make his selections for season-long plays that he’ll be tracking throughout this season. Keep an eye out for his plays.

If you need somewhere to place your picks for a win total over/under or a World Series bet, use code “JUSTBASEBALL” when signing up for BetMGM.

Trivia Answer: D) .919

After a really tough first half in his second full MLB season, Carroll bounced back in a big way in the final months of the season. Still, he’s in the bounce back category as he’s capable of performing that way across the whole season.

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