Happy New Year and welcome to 2025! We have made it to the quarter of a century mark and all eyes can now officially shift to the 2025 MLB Season with pitchers and catchers set to report to Spring Training in just over a month.

Before we fully shift though, let’s look at the rearview briefly as we recap the best moments of 2024. Beyond that, we’ve got a lot more action to come in the offseason with eight of Just Baseball’s initial Top 25 Free Agents still available.

As we gear up for another exciting year, we’ll put a bow on 2024 and preview the early months of 2025 in the baseball world.

The Best of 2024

I don’t care what anyone (I’m talking to you, Cam Newton!) says about baseball…2024 was awesome and the sport is thriving right now.

Yes, of course we would say this because we’re a baseball company. But if you don’t believe us, ratings and attendance numbers clearly back it up!

Before we move forward into 2025, here are some of the key reasons that 2024 delivered an incredible year of baseball.

World Series of Superstars

Say what you want about the “predictable” nature of the World Series this year, but one thing is for sure…the stars delivered. Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Freddie Freeman, Juan Soto, Mookie Betts, the list goes on.

The Dodgers and Yankees facing off in the World Series led to the most star-studded matchup in many years featuring the two most historic franchises in the sport. This led to the most watched World Series (on an average per game basis) since 2017.

While the Dodgers winning in five games may make it seem lopsided, Game One was a thriller and the Dodgers comeback in the final clinching game was historic.

Whether or not this World Series made you angry or not, you watched. Admit it.

Historic Award Winners

Every season the stars impress, but this year was even more incredible. The top players in baseball all made history in their own right this season.

Shohei Ohtani became the first member of the 50/50 Club, Aaron Judge somehow topped his record-breaking 2022, Chris Sale and Tarik Skubal each won the Triple Crown and Cy Young in their respective leagues, and Paul Skenes put up one of the best rookie pitching seasons ever. Simply put, the stars shined all season.

Youth Movement

Talent around baseball has never been better and that can be seen clearly by the young stars that went off this season. Paul Skenes is one of the more well-known rookies in some time, but Jackson Squared, Jackson Merrill and Jackson Chourio, were electric especially in the clutch and would have won the NL Rookie of the Year in other seasons.

Beyond the rookies, young stars such as Bobby Witt Jr., Gunnar Henderson, Elly De La Cruz, and others were among the best in the game. The future is bright!

Underdogs and Turnarounds

A number of teams entered 2024 with expectations of competing while the world did not expect them to contend. Others struggled early but turned their season around in dramatic fashion.

The Tigers are one team that stands out as they were under .500 for the majority of the season and went on an unbelievable run to end the season and make the playoffs after trading their second-best arm at the deadline.

Meanwhile, in the same division, the Royals lost 106 games in 2023 (That would’ve easily been the second-most in baseball this season!) and made the postseason by winning 30 more games this year.

The Astros experienced the worst start ever for a team that still won their division. Despite what the haters said in April, their era isn’t fully over just yet. In New York, the Mets were seemingly far from a playoff team for much of the year and went on to make it all the way to the NLCS.

Baseball Players Getting Paid

The foundation was laid by Shohei Ohtani last year and baseball money has now officially reached astronomical heights with Juan Soto signing the largest contract in professional sports history.

In the final two months of 2024, we got a ton of huge contracts, trades, and more aside from just Soto with these teams emerging as winners of the offseason heading into the new year.

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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.

Which MLB team has the most regular season wins in the first 25 years of the 21st Century (Since 2000)?

A) Cardinals

B) Yankees

C) Dodgers

D) Giants

Looking Ahead at 2025

Now that we got all that very last year information out of the way, the future becomes the focus. We can only hope that this coming season builds upon what we just experienced and leads to an even better 2025!

Rest of the Offseason

There is still a lot more that will happen over the next month and a half, possibly longer, before teams get rolling. Many players remain available including ample starting pitchers and stars potentially available via trade.

While Spring Training kicks off next month, this offseason is far from over with impact players still set to switch teams in the coming weeks.

Early Favorites

It’s easy to look at this offseason in addition to the the way the postseason went and see the obvious early World Series favorite…

However, other teams have improved plenty and will be able to give the reigning champs a serious run. Let’s not forget the postseason in baseball is rather unpredictable regardless of how talented a given team may be.

While the reigning champions are the favorite, many others have improved this winter with legitimate aspirations to take it all the way. It’s never that simple, so we’ll just have to see what happens.

On the player side of things, two players are the clear early favorites to win the Cy Young in the AL and NL respectively with BetMGM’s odds dropping recently. We’ll have more award previews coming soon.

Teams to Watch

The underdogs were exciting in 2024 and that could easily be the case with some teams outside last season’s top contenders being ready to compete this year.

Building on last season, the Royals and Tigers are young and hungry while the Rangers, Braves, and Diamondbacks have made moves to get back to their 2023 form, or better.

Many more fit in this tier with the Red Sox and Cubs having active offseason, Tampa being Tampa, and the Pirates, Nationals, Reds, and others trending well.

Prospects to Watch

Another crop of star prospects are set to attempt to take the league by storm. Our top pitching prospect Jackson Jobe debuted last year while our top overall prospect Roman Anthony is expected to debut this year. The Cubs put a lot of faith in top prospect Matt Shaw as the Orioles did with their entire young core.

Other Headlines

• Corbin Burnes was the best player left on the market heading into the holidays and shockingly signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Read about why this move makes so much sense here!

• One of the remaining impact bats stayed in an excellent spot as Teoscar Hernandez inked a three-year deal to stay with the Dodgers. The powerhouse in Los Angeles also signed KBO star Hye-Seong Kim as another huge depth piece.

• The Tigers added one offensive piece with potentially more to come as they brought in Gleyber Torres on a one-year deal. He’ll add an experienced bat to a talented young team. Read more!

• Baltimore continued to add affordably by signing veteran Charlie Morton to a one-year deal as they look to add reliable pitchers.

Collectables Corner

Check out this incredibly cool way that Joey Loperfido of the Blue Jays is generating money for charity by using his 1/1 MLB Debut Patch baseball card!

Trivia Answer: B) Yankees

Since 2000, the Yankees have 2,286 wins which leads MLB with the Dodgers coming in at 2,239 and the Cardinals in third with 2,179 wins.

Just Baseball Merch

Our newest line of merchandise features a crewneck and two more Just Baseball hats!

We have also restocked on all your favorites including hats, hoodies, and more.

Check out the full collection of Just Baseball swag here!