Oh, it’s so good to have baseball all the way back. We’re fully rolling here three weeks into the season and it’s only getting better!

This week, we thought it would good to dive deeper into teams that have excelled early in the year and the reasons for their success.

We’ve also got some dark horse award winners to keep an eye on given their strong starts to the year.

Hot Starts to the Season

Now that we’re a good few weeks into the season, it’s time to look at the teams surging early. Not just who’s succeeding, but WHY they have been able to do so.

For this newsletter, I asked lead Just Baseball writers to break down why the team they cover closely has come out of the gate hot!

Detroit Tigers: 10-7 (1st in AL Central)

Written by Clay Snowden

After a magical run to a surprising playoff berth, many thought the Tigers would take a step back. Instead, they are proving last year was a launching pad for the next winning era of Tigers baseball.

Not to sound too old school, but this team just plays the right way—great on the basepaths, sound fundamentals, and clutch hitting. Manager A.J. Hinch seems to push all the right buttons at the right time.

Detroit’s pitching staff is once again leading the charge. Last year’s Cy Young winner, Tarik Skubal, is coming off his best outing and is really starting to hit his stride. The same can be said for rookie Jackson Jobe, although I expect more growing pains to eventually come.

Former first overall pick Casey Mize has his pitches moving with life we haven’t seen since before his Tommy John surgery. The bullpen picked up right where it left off last season, and Tyler Holton continues to look like the most underrated reliever in baseball.

Offensively, the Tigers have surprised, ranking as a top-10 offense despite a slow start from Colt Keith and injuries to several key contributors.

A big reason for the hot start has been Spencer Torkelson playing like the talent that made him a first overall pick. A simpler stance has helped Torkelson’s timing and increased his exit velocities by over three mph. Overall, no one player is at an MVP level, but everyone is doing their part—even Javier Báez.

This Detroit team has a much different feel than in years past. Sure, making the playoffs and winning a series changed 2025 expectations, but we all had our reservations deep down. Opening the series against the Dodgers, in L.A., and going toe to toe showed me this team would be ready.

They have impressed early on and have reinforcements on the way. Buckle up, Motown. We might be in for a special summer.

San Diego Padres: 14-4 (1st in NL West)

Written by Elijah Evans

While the Dodgers got all the attention heading into the season, it’s a different NL West team that has been the best in baseball to start the year.

San Diego has been unreal so far this especially at home as they’re 11-0 at Petco Park to open the season. It’s been a collective effort across the board for the Padres with a few key standouts leading the way.

It’s impossible to not start with Fernando Tatis Jr., who has been on a heater in the past week and looks to be truly in his peak form right now. Through his first 16 games, Tatis has slashed .361/.429/.672 with 6 home runs and 6 stolen bases. He’s doing it all.

Jackson Merrill and Jake Cronenworth started hot but have landed on the IL recently. The offense has still maintained though thanks to strong efforts from Manny Machado and…Gavin Sheets, who has been an excellent pleasant surprise.

The pitching, particularly the bullpen, has been lights out more often than not. Michael King (2.42 ERA) and newcomer Nick Pivetta (1.59 ERA) have shined in the rotation out of the gate.

San Diego’s high-leverage trio of Robert Suarez, Jason Adam, and Jeremiah Estrada has been untouchable with only two runs runs allowed between the three.

Yuki Matsui, Adrian Morejon, and Wandy Peralta have been steady in earlier relief spots as well. The bullpen as a whole has been among the best in baseball.

Chicago Cubs: 12-8 (1st in NL Central)

Written by Ryan Herrera

After Tuesday night's extra-inning win over the Padres, the Cubs have a 12-8 record (fifth-best winning percentage in baseball) and lead the National League Central. What's behind this strong start? Look no further than their lineup, which has thus far been one of the best units in the big leagues.

The Cubs own the best run differential (plus-38) in the majors. They were one of two teams who entered Wednesday averaging six-plus runs per game (Yankees were the other). They had the most games scoring at least six runs (10), and they were the only club to score in double-figures five different times.

Also entering Wednesday, the Cubs' 122 total runs were 19 more than the second-place team (Yankees). Their 124 wRC+ ranked third, their .780 OPS ranked fourth and their .257 batting average — if that's your cup of tea — ranked seventh. Their plate discipline looks good, too, with the Cubs taking walks at the fourth-highest rate (10.9 percent) while striking out at the fifth-lowest rate (19.9 percent).

The Cubs are wreaking havoc on the bases as well. They've stolen 29 bags (most in the majors) and have only been caught three times (tied for fifth-fewest), helping them own the top mark in Base Running Runs Above Average (3.8, per FanGraphs). Add that together with highly-rated defense, and the position-player group ended Tuesday worth 5.8 fWAR — the best in baseball.

The offense has been led by Kyle Tucker (184 wRC+, 14th among qualified hitters), Michael Busch (177, 16th) and Seiya Suzuki (162, 22nd). Nico Hoerner is also hitting well coming off offseason surgery (120), Pete Crow-Armstrong's numbers have risen with a recent hot stretch (113) and Carson Kelly (312) and Miguel Amaya (114) have made up a much more productive catching tandem.

Even with the obvious caveat of "it's only been 20 games," this has been one of the top offenses of 2025.

San Francisco Giants: 12-5 (2nd in NL West)

Written by Michael Monreal

The San Francisco Giants are off to their hottest start since 2003 and currently boast the 2nd best record in the league. Much of this early season success can be credited to the adoption of “Buster Ball”, a new identity for the Giants with a more aggressive and energetic brand of baseball inspired by new President of Baseball Operations, Buster Posey. This new approach has energized the fanbase and delivered real results on the field.

Offensively, the team has been driven by a trio of standout performers in Jung Hoo Lee, Wilmer Flores, and Mike Yastrzemski. Lee has been everything the Giants have needed in his return from injury, slashing .352/.426/.704 with three home runs and an OPS north of 1.000 in his first 13 games.

Flores has been the definition of clutch, delivering huge game-tying and walk off home runs and tallying an MLB best six home runs as of April 13th. Yastrzemski, in a contract year, is off to a red hot start, already hitting three home runs, including a walk-off bomb at home, and boasting of wRC+ of 175 in the young season.

Outside of these three, the Giants have also gotten timely contributions from others up and down the lineup. Although off to a slow start, big addition Willy Adames quickly grabbed the attention of San Francisco fans with a walk-off two-run single in the team’s home opener.

On the mound, the Giants have been equally as impressive. Their 3.26 team ERA is good for fifth in MLB, with strong starts from Logan Webb and Robbie Ray. However, it’s the bullpen that has stolen the show so far.

San Francisco’s relief core currently owns the second-best bullpen ERA in the league at 1.70, trailing only the Padres. Names like Randy Rodriguez, Hayden Birdsong, and Erik Miller have yet to allow an earned run, despite being thrown in numerous high-leverage situations. Rodriguez, specifically, has dazzled, racking up 0.6 fWAR already—second only to Logan Webb among Giants pitchers.

Overall, the new look Giants look like serious contenders, mixing young talent, veteran leadership, and an aggressive identity that seems to have brought the winning mentality back to the city by the bay.

If early trends continue with the offense and pitching staff maintaining their pace, we could see a special run that brings back memories of the early 2010s.

New York Mets: 11-6 (1st in NL East)

Written by Ryan Finkelstein

The New York Mets took a loss in their first series of the season against the Houston Astros, dropping two of their first three games. Since then, they have won four series in a row, catapulting themselves to the top of the NL East.

While Juan Soto’s first season in Queens is one of the bigger storylines to follow in baseball this year, early returns have been mixed for the Mets new $765 million star.

Soto is still taking his walks and is getting on base at a .400+ clip, but he has yet to really got hot swinging the bat. After homering on Opening Day, it took until the Mets 16th game of the season for him to leave the yard again.

With Soto not yet clicking, and another overalll slow start from Francisco Lindor, as well as other top contributors like Brandon Nimmo and Mark Vientos, the Mets lineup has not quite hit their stride. Instead, they have largely been carried by one man, with Pete Alonso’s torrid start to the season being a huge difference-maker for an otherwise struggling offense.

Through the Mets first 16 games, Alonso has been leading the National League in OPS, having hit .345/.464/.673, with a team-best 19 RBIs. Alonso finds himself among the top two or three hitters in MLB for most offensive categories.

Thanks to timely hitting, and heroics by Alonso, the Mets have been able to score enough to win consistently, but none of that would be possible without their pitching.

Despite having a rotation full of question marks, with converted reliever Clay Holmes, Tylor Megill, Griffin Canning, and Kodai Senga off a lost year due to injury, the Mets lead MLB in starter ERA at 2.50 through 16 games.

David Peterson has picked up where he left off last year, Senga is looking like the ace we saw back in 2023, and Holmes, Megill and Canning have all been very effective, albeit without pitching deep into games. This is where the Mets bullpen comes in.

Between Huascar Brazoban, Max Kranick and Jose Butto, the Mets bullpen has gotten incredible production out of multi-inning weapons who have helped bridge those middle innings after starters have been pulled early.

That trio has combined to allow only three runs across their first 30 2/3 innings pitched to start the season. Reed Garrett, Ryne Stanek and A.J. Minter have all been very solid in set-up roles, leaving the only hole in the Mets bullpen at the very back-end with closer Edwin Diaz.

Diaz has had a few rough outings, and is currently sporting a 7.94 ERA. With that said, he has yet to blow a save and can still lock it back in soon to complete a bullpen that may have the leagues to be the best (or one of the best) in all of baseball.

For a team that was supposed to be predicated on their bats, the Mets hot start can largely be attributed to their arms. Through 16 games, the Mets lead all of baseball with a collective 2.22 ERA as a team.

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.

The Padres just matched their franchise-best 12-3 start to the season. What season did they also start 12-3?

A) 2022

B) 2010

C) 1998

D) 1984

Dark Horse Award Candidates

Sure, you can play it safe and bet on Shohei Ohtani to win MVP and Paul Skenes to win the Cy Young.

But you could also go a different direction and take a chance on players that have shown the talent to win a major award in the early going.

Dark Horse MVP Candidates

Heading into the year, Aaron Judge and Bobby Witt Jr. were the clear frontrunners for the top AL award and they remain well ahead of any other candidate. In the National League, Shohei Ohtani was and remains the favorite.

These players are still highly unlikely to win the award, but could have a shot if everything goes their way this MLB season.

At the time of this article being written less than a week ago, Carroll was over +3000 to win the award. Now, he’s the second-highest behind Ohtani after a monster past week.

Dark Horse Cy Young Candidates

In the AL, star left-handers lead the way with Garrett Crochet and Tarik Skubal being the favorites. Meanwhile, Paul Skenes remains on top of the NL board with emerging superstar Hunter Greene rising to second-best in odds.

This group of five arms has been stellar though to start the season and is worth keeping eye on if they keep pitching the way they have so far.

Bubic is a fascinating one as he transitions back to being a starter after a dominant 2024 as a reliever. Meanwhile, Fried has been a saving grace thus far for the Yankees pitching staff.

Other Headlines

• Aaron Judge will officially lead Team USA in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

• Cubs starter Justin Steele will undergo elbow surgery and miss the rest of the 2025 season. Read more.

• Talk surrounding the now well-known Torpedo Bat continues around the baseball world. Learn more here!

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Trivia Answer: C) 1998

The 1998 San Diego Padres got off to 12-3 start and the finished the season atop their division at with 98 wins. They upset the historic 1998 Braves team before falling to the Yankees in the World Series.

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