Why this World Baseball Classic is historic — and complicated — for Cuba
ONE OF THE most captivating players in the early part of this year’s World Baseball Classic has been Randy Arozarena, a man who famously saves his best for the time of year when it matters most. Arozarena, the Tampa Bay Rays‘ fifth-year outfielder, has treated an international tournament in March the way he often does Major League Baseball’s postseason in October, electrifying fans with his all-around skill set, tickling social media with his pro-wrestling-style poses and delighting teammates with his cowboy boots.
Arozarena was born and raised in Cuba, the island that sparked and fostered his love for baseball. But he isn’t representing his home country this week. His star, instead, is shining for Mexico, the nation he settled in briefly during his early 20s.
This year’s World Baseball Classic represents a seismic shift for Cuba, which included current major league players on the roster for the first time ever. It led to the additions of Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert, central figures for the Chicago White Sox. But Arozarena, who has spoken openly in recent years about representing his adopted country, represents a litany of Cuban-born stars who were either not invited or not interested or, in some cases, both, a list that also includes Jose Abreu, Yordan Alvarez, Yasmani Grandal and Aroldis Chapman, among numerous others.
The presence of Moncada and Robert — as well as Yoenis Cespedes, the former star outfielder who hasn’t played in the majors since 2020, and a handful of minor league players — has been characterized by Cuba and its state-run media as a monumental step worth celebrating. Cuba, which dominated on the Olympic stage throughout the 1990s and 2000s, possesses a rich history of baseball excellence. But massive defections have diminished the level of talent on the island and brought with it numerous disappointments on the international stage. The inclusion of major league players was considered a much-needed boost.
But many Cuban players in the United States viewed the development with deep-seated cynicism, well-earned from those who were stripped of basic freedoms by a country they were ultimately forced to flee. Notable, sure, but also awkward. Encouraging yet controversial. As with most things related to Cuba, it is, well, complicated.
“Unfortunately in Cuba everything is mixed with its politics,” veteran infielder Aledmys Diaz said in Spanish. “The [Cuban Baseball Federation] is part of the direction of the Cuban government. In order for you to represent them, or be part of that, you have to think the way they do. That’s a problem that Cuba has, and it’s what differentiates it from other countries.”
TO BE A Cuban American is to lack a true sense of country, a plight that international events like the World Baseball Classic have a tendency of highlighting. For Cubans, pride in a flag and roots and traditions are often entwined with disdain for an oppressive government that has spent decades denying its people their fundamental human rights, a connection that can become impossible to separate. It’s a duality unique to the Cuban professional baseball player, as Aroldis Chapman explained on a recent spring morning.
“In the Dominican, all of the Dominican players leave, finish their seasons here, and then most of them go back to their country and spend most of their offseasons in the Dominican,” Chapman, a member of the Kansas City Royals, said. “A lot of us Cubans, first of all, we had to leave illegally. The Cuban government doesn’t give us permission to go anywhere. It’s not just athletes; it’s everybody. Before, you couldn’t leave Cuba to go anywhere. We left, we left illegally, and then the very Cuban government began to call us traitors … saying a bunch of things against us.
“And so on top of that, calling us all those things, they don’t televise any of our games in Cuba. They don’t televise big league games over there, supposedly because they don’t want to show the Cuban baseball players who are playing over here. Also, a lot of us have gone eight, 10, 15 years without being able to return to Cuba. At this point, [with the World Baseball Classic taking place] a lot of people talk about the island, the country. Yeah, but that same country has called you a traitor … because you made the decision to come to this country. There’s just a lot there.”
The U.S., more than 60 years into a strict trade embargo, granted Cuba special permission to include major and minor league players on its WBC roster in December — but the list of those allowed to join shrank quickly.
The Cuban Baseball Federation, which banned participation in professional sports more than 60 years ago, declared from the onset that no one who left Cuba’s national team during international competition in order to eventually reach the U.S., and in its view broke a contract, would be invited. And in April, the president of the Cuban Baseball Federation, Juan Reynaldo Perez Pardo, introduced another condition, saying on a daily news show in Cuba that the players selected would be those who “have maintained a positive attitude towards our baseball and our country.” In other words: players who are not publicly critical of the government.
For some, it meant taking part would require forgetting the reasons they left in the first place.
“There is no freedom in Cuba,” said Yale professor Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria, author of a book about the history of Cuban baseball.
On the island, those who speak out against the government risk jail time, with minimal due process. Most of the economy is controlled by GAESA, the economic division of Cuba’s military. And leaving the country often requires special permission. Because of the embargo established by the United States, baseball players must establish residency in a different country in order to become eligible for major league free agency — and that path has often proved treacherous.
Many of the stories that have come to light have been harrowing. Jose Fernandez, the late star pitcher for the Miami Marlins, described jumping overboard to save his mother from drowning during their journey. Jose Abreu testified about having to swallow a fake passport. Yasiel Puig was reportedly detained by a Mexican drug cartel. Orlando Hernandez was famously sent to a Bahamian detention center. When they eventually shined in the U.S., their achievements were ignored by a Cuban government that would not allow them back into the country for at least eight years. Worse, their reputations were often tarnished.
“They called us traitors, they said we were a disgrace to our country, and now you want us to play for you — and we don’t even get an apology?” said a Cuban-born major league player who did not want to be publicly identified. “We don’t forget. I’m not going to forget, at least. I have my pride.”
AROLDIS CHAPMAN AND Aledmys Diaz, now with the Oakland Athletics, said they had no interest in playing for Team Cuba, which split its four pool-play games and advanced into the quarterfinals by virtue of a tiebreaker. But they also were not invited, nor was anyone else who left during international competitions — a list that includes Jose Iglesias, Yadiel Hernandez and the Gurriel brothers, Yulieski and Lourdes Jr.
Many of those who were eligible also declined.
Houston Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez and first baseman Jose Abreu were both called, but neither answered, Team Cuba manager Armando Johnson told the local media in January. New York Yankees starter Nestor Cortes, who left Cuba as a child, chose to pitch for Team USA before withdrawing because of a hamstring injury. Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Yandy Diaz expressed to Spanish-speaking media late last year that he was not interested in playing for Cuba, and his Rays teammate, Arozarena, is fulfilling his desire to play for Mexico, the country where he established citizenship after fleeing Cuba.
Oscar Colas of the White Sox and Miguel Vargas of the Los Angeles Dodgers showed varying degrees of interest but declined largely to focus on holding down everyday jobs with their current teams.
Colas, whose spring locker resides between those of Moncada and Robert, hopes to play for Team Cuba if given another opportunity in the near future.
Vargas, whose father, Lazaro, starred for Cuba in the 1990s, is uncertain.
“I think there’s always going to be that struggle because a lot has happened through a lot of time,” Vargas said in Spanish. “They’ve hurt a lot of players, their families, lots of stuff. I think with time, maybe there can be a better relationship. But that’s not the case right now.”
Four minor league players joined Team Cuba, including infielder Andy Ibanez (Texas Rangers organization) and pitchers Ronald Bolanos (Royals), Miguel Romero (A’s) and Roenis Elias (Chicago Cubs). But Robert, Moncada and Cespedes are the clear headliners, representations of what optimists view as a potential shift in Cuba’s relations with those who left the island.
Yoan Moncada received legal permission to leave in June 2014 and flew directly from Cuba to Ecuador. Yoenis Cespedes and Luis Robert left illegally — Cespedes on a speedboat in the summer of 2011; Robert on a flight, through back channels, in the fall of 2016, according to a Francys Romero book that chronicles Cuban migration. But neither left the team during international competition, and each is at least in neutral standing with the Cuban government.
Approached by ESPN during spring training, Moncada and Robert declined to talk about their decision to join Team Cuba. Cespedes, who left the team to address a personal issue in the U.S. but hopes to rejoin Cuba if it advances into the semifinals, was relayed questions through a public-relations staffer in Taiwan but declined to answer them.
Just before leaving White Sox camp in Glendale, Arizona, Robert, speaking through an interpreter, told the local media that the thought of playing for Cuba had “never crossed my mind” after leaving the island, adding that he felt “proud” to do so now. Moncada said he was “very hopeful that this is a first step for the Cuban players that are in the major leagues to represent their country in future tournaments.”
Chapman and Diaz said they did not speak with Robert or Moncada about their decision to join the team, but they also did not condemn them for it.
“I’m sure they have their reasons,” Chapman said.
“I’m not going to look at Moncada or Robert any differently for making the decision to play for Team Cuba,” Diaz added. “I respect their decision. All I can control is my own actions and the way I think.”
CUBA’S DECISION TO accept players who fled was surprising considering its sensibilities but predictable considering its circumstances.
“It’s a reflection of the crises in which Cuba finds itself, in all aspects of life,” said Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria. “Things have deteriorated, and so has baseball.”
Cuba, an island that cherishes its baseball every bit as much as the Dominican Republic, claimed gold or silver at every Summer Olympics from 1992 to 2008 and 39 other golds over a five-decade stretch in the Baseball World Cup, Intercontinental Cup and Pan-American Games. When the World Baseball Classic was first staged in 2006, Cuba finished as the runner-up to Japan. But it went 1-3 in the Pan-American Games in 2019, failed to qualify for the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and went 1-6 in last month’s Caribbean Series, finishing last among the eight teams.
Cuba didn’t advance past the second round in any of the past three World Baseball Classics and isn’t expected to do so this year, even with Moncada, Robert and Cespedes on the roster. Heading into the tournament, outsiders predicted Cuba’s amateurs might have a hard time handling the high velocities displayed by upper-echelon teams in the late stages of this tournament. Upper-90s fastballs have become almost foreign on the island; the average fastball in the Cuban National Series fell to the mid-80s last season, according to Francys Romero, a Cuban journalist who now lives in Miami and works for MLB.com.
In March of 2020, Romero released his Spanish-language book chronicling the migration of Cuban baseball players from 1960 to 2018. He called the tail end of that stretch an “explosion.” According to Romero’s research, 130 players left from 1990 to 2000. From 2000 to 2010, the number jumped to 250. In 2015 alone, it was 202 — a total that represents roughly half the number of players who take part in the 16-team Cuban National Series, the equivalent of its regular season. The period from 2011 to 2018 totaled somewhere in the neighborhood of 650 departures, largely due to the travel restrictions that were eased by Raul Castro, Fidel’s brother, in 2013.
Cuban players commonly departed after they had at least begun to establish themselves within the country’s highest league. But by 2018, the average age of the baseball players who left had fallen to 17 years old, seven years younger than it was just four years earlier, according to Romero.
“It was no longer even that the stars didn’t feel confident continuing their careers in Cuba,” Romero said in Spanish, “but that the fathers of the young prospects also didn’t believe in a future in Cuba.”
MIGUEL VARGAS, a 23-year-old infielder who will become the Dodgers’ everyday second baseman this season, is a soccer fan who watched closely as Argentina secured the World Cup in December.
He thought about what it would mean for Cuba to do something similar in baseball.
“Everybody who’s Cuban should have the opportunity to represent his country,” Vargas said. “I think that would be incredible.”
MLB holds aspirations of eventually turning the WBC into something as storied and as cherished as the World Cup, but one of the obstacles standing in the way of such a lofty pursuit — aside from history, international reach and the dynamics of MLB — is representation. Significant progress was made for this year’s event, particularly with regard to Team USA.
But for Cuba, increasing representation isn’t as easy as rallying superstars.
An effort, at least, was made early last year, when a group of current and former players joined forces with a longtime journalist and a former software engineer to launch the Association of Cuban Professional Baseball Players. The primary goal was to assemble an all-star team for the World Baseball Classic, independent from the communist government that has historically prevented one, and so Cuban baseball fans everywhere went on social media to fantasize about a dream roster.
Luis Robert in center. Jorge Soler and Randy Arozarena in the outfield corners. Yasmani Grandal behind the plate. Yordan Alvarez at DH. Jose Abreu, Yoan Moncada, Jose Iglesias and perhaps even Nolan Arenado making up the infield. Nestor Cortes and Alek Manoah starting games, Aroldis Chapman and Raisel Iglesias finishing them.
A logo, a vertical adaptation of Cuba’s flag, was created. A name, The Cubanos, was announced. T-shirts were printed, uniform concepts were generated. Pitching legend Orlando Hernandez was installed as the general manager, and Brayan Pena, the former catcher who now coaches in the minor leagues, was named field manager. Some of Cuba’s biggest stars — Chapman, Soler and Alvarez among them — voiced their support.
The group spoke with Tony Clark, head of the MLB Players Association, in May, and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred in June, and felt as if the meetings were well-received. But the goal of competing in this year’s World Baseball Classic hardly stood a chance. The World Baseball Softball Confederation, which sanctions the WBC, does not permit the participation of a team that is not affiliated with a national governing body, and running the WBC without sanctions was hardly an option. Cubans were once again left longing.
“I feel like we accomplished a lot in a short amount of time,” Diaz said. “We know there are a lot of rules that were going to prevent us from fielding a team for this year’s Classic, but I think we took steps forward. And my understanding is that the inclusion of Moncada and Luis Robert was at least partly because of the pressure we were able to create. I don’t think the Cuban government would’ve allowed MLB players to take part in this year’s World Baseball Classic [if not for us]. And so from my point of view, I think the pressure we put on them was important.”
Diaz, echoing a sentiment shared by several others, doesn’t want to play for a Cuban team until everyone is allowed. That won’t happen, he believes, until “baseball stops becoming politicized” and the team deploys a manager who is not associated with the Cuban government.
It’s not that simple.
“In Cuba everything is basically politicized,” Chapman said. “A lot of people want to separate what is the sport of baseball, culture, from politics. They want to separate them. But in Cuba, everything is political — sports, culture, everything. So if you’re representing Cuba, you’re not just representing the flag, you’re representing the government.”
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David Schoenfield
We’re past due to hand out some midseason grades, so let’s hand out some midseason grades.
As we pass the 90-game mark in the 2025 MLB season, my team of the first half isn’t the well-rounded Detroit Tigers, who do get our highest grade for owning MLB’s best record, or the explosive Chicago Cubs or Shohei Ohtani‘s Los Angeles Dodgers, but a team most baseball fans love to hate: the Houston Astros. They lost their two best players from last season and their best hitter has been injured — and they’re playing their best baseball since they won the 2022 World Series.
Let’s get to the grades. As always, we’re grading off preseason expectations, factoring in win-loss record and quality of performance, while looking at other positive performances and injuries.
Jump to a team:
AL East: BAL | BOS | NYY | TB | TOR
AL Central: CHW | CLE | DET | KC | MIN
AL West: ATH | HOU | LAA | SEA | TEX
NL East: ATL | MIA | NYM | PHI | WSH
NL Central: CHC | CIN | MIL | PIT | STL
NL West: ARI | COL | LAD | SD | SF
Tarik Skubal is obviously the headline act, but the Tigers are winning with impressive depth across the entire roster.
Javier Baez is putting together a remarkable comeback season after a couple of abysmal years and will become the first player to start an All-Star Game at both shortstop and in the outfield. Former No. 1 overall picks Casey Mize and Spencer Torkelson have put together their own comeback stories, while Riley Greene has matured into one of the game’s top power hitters.
Given their deep well of prospects and contributors at the MLB level, no team is better positioned than the Tigers to add significant help at the trade deadline.
I heard someone refer to them as the Zombie Astros, which feels apropos. Alex Bregman left as a free agent, they traded Kyle Tucker, Yordan Alvarez has been injured and has just three home runs, and the Jose Altuve experiment in left field predictably fizzled.
But here they are, fighting for the best record in the majors and holding a comfortable lead in the AL West. They’re getting star turns from Hunter Brown, Framber Valdez and Jeremy Pena, while the risky decision to start Cam Smith in the majors with very little minor league experience has paid off, as he has now become their cleanup hitter.
If we ignore the COVID-19 season, the Astros look on their way to an eighth straight division title.
This could be at least a half-grade higher based on everything that has gone right: Pete Crow-Armstrong‘s attention-grabbing breakout, Tucker doing everything expected after the big trade, Seiya Suzuki‘s monster power numbers and Matthew Boyd‘s All-Star turn in the rotation. The Cubs are on pace for their most wins since their World Series title season in 2016.
There have been a few hiccups, however, especially in the rotation with Justin Steele‘s season-ending injury and Ben Brown‘s inconsistency, plus rookie third baseman Matt Shaw has scuffled, and the bench has been weak aside from their backup catchers.
Still, this is a powerhouse lineup, and the Cubs will seek to improve their rotation at the deadline.
They just keep winning of late, going from 25-27 and seven games behind the Yankees on May 25 to taking over first place from the slumping Bronx Bombers, a remarkable turnaround over just 36 games. They went 27-9 over a 36-game stretch ending with their eighth win in a row on Sunday.
George Springer‘s recent surge has been fun to watch, a reminder of how good he was at his peak, and Addison Barger has been mashing over the past two months.
Some of the stats don’t add up to the Blue Jays being this good — they’ve barely outscored their opponents — but there might be more offense in the tank from the likes of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a healthy Anthony Santander, and the bullpen, a soft spot, is the easiest area to upgrade.
Their success is best summed up by the fact that Freddy Peralta is their lone All-Star, but they have a whole bunch of players who have contributed between 1 and 2 WAR.
Brandon Woodruff looked good Sunday in his first start in nearly two years, so that could be a huge boost for the second half.
I’m curious to see how Jackson Chourio performs as well. While his counting stats — extra-base hits, RBIs — are fine, his triple-slash line remains below last season, especially his OBP. He had a huge second half in 2024 (.310/.363/.552), and if he does that again, the Brewers could find themselves back in the postseason for the seventh time in eight seasons.
The Rays started off slow, with a losing record through the end of April, but then went 33-22 in May and June to claw back into the AL East race — as the Rays usually do, last year being the recent exception.
Two key performers have been All-Star third baseman Junior Caminero, who has a chance to become just the third player to hit 40 home runs in his age-21 season, and All-Star first baseman Jonathan Aranda.
Due to the league wanting the Rays to play more home games early in the season, the July and August slate will be very road-heavy, so we’ll see how the Rays adapt to a difficult two-month stretch, especially since their pitching isn’t quite as deep as it has been in other seasons.
No, they’re not going to be the greatest team of all time. But they might win 100 games — even though Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki, their huge offseason acquisitions, have combined for just two wins in 10 starts.
The lineup, of course, has been terrific, with Ohtani leading the NL in several categories and Will Smith leading the batting race. By wRC+, it’s been the best offense in Dodgers history.
If they can get some combo of Snell, Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow healthy, plus Ohtani eventually ramped up to a bigger workload on the mound, the Dodgers still loom as World Series favorites.
They are on pace for 95 wins, mainly on the strength of Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez, who are a combined 23-7 with 11.8 WAR. Jesus Luzardo‘s ERA is bloated due to that two-start stretch when he allowed 20 runs, but he has otherwise been solid as well.
But, overall, it hasn’t always been the smoothest of treks. The bullpen has imploded a few times and the offense has lacked power aside from Kyle Schwarber. Bryce Harper is back after missing three weeks, and they need to get his bat going. Look for some bullpen additions at the trade deadline — and perhaps an outfielder as well.
The Cardinals have been a minor surprise — perhaps even to the Cardinals themselves. St. Louis was viewing this as a rebuilding year of sorts — not that the Cardinals ever hit rock bottom and start completely over. They had a hot May, winning 12 of 13 at one point, but the offense has been fading of late, with those three straight shutout losses to Pittsburgh and six shutout losses since June 25.
The starting rotation doesn’t generate a lot of swing and miss, with both Erick Fedde and Miles Mikolas seeing their ERAs starting to climb. Brendan Donovan is the team’s only All-Star rep, and that kind of sums up this team: solid but without any star power. That might foretell a second-half fade.
All-Star starting pitchers Logan Webb and Robbie Ray, plus a dominant bullpen, have led the way, although after starting 12-4, the Giants have basically been a .500 team for close to three months now. Rafael Devers hasn’t yet ignited the offense since coming over from Boston, and the Giants have lost four 1-0 games.
These final three games at home against the Dodgers before the All-Star break will be a crucial series, as Los Angeles has slowly pulled away in the NL West.
This was an “A-plus” through June 12, when the Mets were 45-24 and owned the best record in baseball, even though Juan Soto hadn’t gotten hot. Soto finally got going in June, but the pitching collapsed, and the Mets went through a disastrous 1-10 stretch.
The rotation injuries have piled up, exacerbating the lack of bullpen depth. Recent games have been started by Justin Hagenman (who had a 6.21 ERA in Triple-A), journeyman reliever Chris Devenski, Paul Blackburn (7.71 ERA) and Frankie Montas, who has had to start even though he’s clearly not throwing the ball well. The Mets need to get the rotation healthy, but also could use more offense from Mark Vientos and their catchers (Francisco Alvarez was demoted to Triple-A).
At times it has felt like Cal Raleigh has been a one-man team with his record-breaking first half. But he will be joined on the All-Star squad by starting pitcher Bryan Woo, closer Andres Munoz and center fielder Julio Rodriguez, who made it on the strength of his defense, as his offense has been a disappointment.
The offense has been one of the best in the majors on the road, but the rotation has been nowhere near as effective as the past couple of seasons, with George Kirby, Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller all missing time with injuries. They just shut out the Pirates three games in a row, so maybe that will get the rotation on a roll.
They’re just out of the wild-card picture while hanging around .500, so we give them a decent grade since that exceeds preseason expectations. It feels like a little bit of a mirage given their run differential — their record in one-run games (good) versus their record in blowout games (not good) — and various holes across the lineup and pitching staff.
But they’ve done two things to keep them in the race. One, they hit a lot of home runs. Two, they’re the only team in the majors to use just five starting pitchers. The rotation hasn’t been stellar, but it’s been stable.
The Padres are probably fortunate to be where they are, given some of their issues. As expected, the offensive depth has been a problem.
Not as expected, Dylan Cease has struggled while Michael King‘s injury after a strong start has left them without last year’s dynamic 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation (although Nick Pivetta has been one of the best signings of the offseason). Yu Darvish just made his season debut Monday, so hopefully he’ll provide a lift.
The Padres haven’t played well against the better teams, including a 2-5 record against the Dodgers, but they did clean up against the Athletics, Rockies and Pirates, going 16-2 against those three teams.
For now, the Reds are stuck in neutral. Leave out 2022, when they lost 100 games, and it’s otherwise been a string of .500-ish seasons: 31-29 in 2020, 83-79 in 2021, 82-80 in 2023, 77-85 in 2024 and now a similar record so far in 2025.
The hope was that Terry Francona would be a difference-maker. Maybe that will play out down the stretch, but the best hope is to get the rotation clicking on all cylinders at the same time. That means Andrew Abbott continuing his breakout performance, plus getting Hunter Greene healthy again and rookie Chase Burns to live up to the hype after a couple of shaky outings following an impressive MLB debut.
Throw in Nick Lodolo and solid Nick Martinez and Brady Singer, and this group can be good enough to pitch the Reds to their first full-season playoff appearance since 2013.
The Yankees have hit their annual midseason swoon — which has been subject to much intense analysis from their disgruntled fans — and that opening weekend sweep of the Brewers, when the Yankees’ torpedo bats were the big story in baseball, now seems long ago.
Going from seven up to three back in such a short time is a disaster — but not disastrous. Nonetheless, the Yankees will have to do some hard-core self-evaluation heading to the trade deadline.
The offense wasn’t going to be as good as it was in April, when Paul Goldschmidt, Trent Grisham and Ben Rice were all playing over their heads. So, do they need a hitter? Or with Clarke Schmidt now likely joining Gerrit Cole as a Tommy John casualty, do they need a starting pitcher? Or both?
From the book of “things we didn’t expect,” page 547: The Marlins are averaging more runs per game than the Orioles, Padres, Braves and Rangers, to name a few teams. They’re averaging almost as many runs per game as the Mets, and last time we checked, the Marlins weren’t the team to give Soto $765 million.
An eight-game winning streak at the end of June has the Marlins going toe-to-toe with the Braves for third place in the NL East even though the starting rotation has been a mess, with Sandy Alcantara on track to become just the fourth qualified pitcher with an ERA over 7.00.
Heading into the season, I thought that if any team was going to challenge the Dodgers in the NL West, it would be the Diamondbacks. The offense has once again been one of the best in the majors, but the pitching issues have been painful.
After the aggressive move to sign Corbin Burnes, he went down with Tommy John surgery after 11 starts. Meanwhile, Zac Gallen, Eduardo Rodriguez and Brandon Pfaadt each have an ERA on the wrong side of 5.00. Rodriguez was better in June before a shellacking on July 4, while Gallen remains homer-prone, so it’s hard to tell if improvement is on the horizon. Their playoff odds are hovering just under 20%, so there’s a chance, but they need to get red-hot like they did last July and August.
It feels like it has been more soap opera than baseball season in Boston, with the Devers drama finally ending with the shocking trade with the Giants.
If you give added weight that this is the Red Sox, a team that should be operating with the big boys in both budget and aspirations and instead seemed to only want to dump Devers’ contract, then feel free to lower this grade a couple of notches, even if the Red Sox are close in the wild-card standings.
On the field, the heralded rookie trio of Kristian Campbell, Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer hasn’t exactly clicked, with Campbell returning to the minors after posting a .902 OPS in April. A big test will come out of the All-Star break, when they play the Cubs, Phillies, Dodgers, Twins and Astros in a tough 15-game stretch.
After last season’s surprise playoff appearance, it’s been a frustrating 2025 — although I’m not sure this result is necessarily a surprise.
There were concerns about the offense heading into the season and those concerns have proven correct. They were getting no production from their outfield, so they rushed Jac Caglianone to the majors to much hype, but he has struggled and might need a reset back in Triple-A. Even Bobby Witt Jr., as good as he has been (on pace for 7.5 WAR), has seen his OPS drop 140 points.
On the bright side, Kris Bubic emerged as an All-Star starter and Noah Cameron has filled in nicely for the injured Cole Ragans, so maybe they trade a starter for some offense.
Coming off a catastrophic 2024 season, nobody was expecting anything from the White Sox. Indeed, another 121-loss season loomed as a possibility. While they’re on pace to lose 100 again, they’ve at least played more competitive baseball thanks to their pitching.
Rookie starters Shane Smith and Sean Burke have shown promise, while rookie position players Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero and now Colson Montgomery are getting their initial taste of the majors.
There has been the mix of calamity: Luis Robert Jr. has been unproductive and is probably now untradable, and former No. 3 overall pick Andrew Vaughn hit .189 and was traded to the Brewers.
The Twins are one organization that might like a do-over of the past five seasons. It feels like they’ve had the most talent in the division, but all they’ve done is squeeze out one soft division title in 2023. Now, the Tigers have passed them in talent and other factors, such as payroll flexibility.
There’s still time for the Twins to turn things around in 2025, but outside of that wonderful 13-game winning streak, they haven’t played winning baseball.
Overall, it’s been yet another bad season, despite Paul Skenes‘ brilliance. Really, do we talk enough about him? Yes, we do talk about him, but he has a 1.95 ERA through his first 42 career starts. Incredible.
Here’s an amazing thing about baseball. The Pirates are not a good team, but they recently put together one of the best six-game stretches in history. That’s not stretching the description. First, they swept the Mets — a good team — by scores of 9-1, 9-2 and 12-1. Then they swept the Cardinals — a good team — with three shutouts, 7-0, 1-0 and 5-0. They became the first team since at least 1901 to score 43 runs or more and allow four runs or fewer in a six-game stretch. And then they promptly got shut out three games in a row, making them the first to win three straight shutouts and then lose three straight shutouts.
Eighteen of our 28 voters picked them to win the AL West before the season, but it’s looking more and more like the 2023 World Series might be a stone-cold fluke in the middle of a string of losing seasons. That year, nearly everyone in the lineup had a career year at the plate, and the pitching got hot at the right time.
This year’s Rangers, though, have struggled to score runs, and while some have pointed to the offensive environment at Globe Life Field, they’re near the bottom in road OPS as well. It’s been fun seeing Jacob deGrom back at a dominating level, and Nathan Eovaldi should have been an All-Star.
Put it this way: If the Rangers can somehow squeeze into the postseason, you don’t want to face the Rangers in a short series. Indeed, if any team looms as an October upset special, it might be the Rangers.
The Nationals received superlative first-half performances from James Wood and MacKenzie Gore, while CJ Abrams is on the way to his best season. But there remains a lack of overall organizational progress, which finally led to the firings on Sunday of longtime GM Mike Rizzo and longtime manager Dave Martinez. A 7-19 record in June sealed their fate, as the rotation has been bad and the bullpen arguably the worst in baseball.
Until the Nationals figure out how to improve their pitching — or, better yet, find an owner who wants to win — they will be stuck going nowhere.
That fell apart in a hurry. Sunday’s loss was Cleveland’s 10th in a row, a stretch that remarkably included five shutouts. Indeed, the Guardians have now been shut out 11 times; the franchise record in the post-dead-ball-era (since 1920) is 20 shutouts in 1968.
There’s nothing worse than watching a team that can’t score runs, so that tells you how exciting the Guardians have been. Last year, the Guardians hit exceptionally well with runners in scoring position, keeping afloat what was otherwise a mediocre offense. That hasn’t happened in 2025 (trading Josh Naylor didn’t help either). Throw in some predictable regression from the bullpen, and this season looks lost.
We can’t give this a complete failing grade due to the emergence of All-Star shortstop Jacob Wilson (the Athletics’ first All-Star starter since Josh Donaldson in 2014) and slugging first baseman Nick Kurtz, who have a chance to finish 1-2 in the Rookie of the Year voting. Plus, we have Denzel Clarke‘s circus catches in center field.
But otherwise? Ugh. The Sacramento gamble already looks like a disaster, three months into a three-year stay. The team is drawing well below Sutter Health Park’s 14,000-seat capacity, with many recent games drawing under 10,000 fans. Luis Severino bashed the small crowds and the lack of air-conditioning.
The A’s had a groundbreaking ceremony for their new park in Vegas, renting heavy construction equipment as background props. Maybe they should have spent that money on more pitching help.
Based on preseason expectations, the Braves have clearly been the biggest disappointment in the National League — fighting the Orioles for most disappointing overall.
What’s gone wrong? They haven’t scored runs, as the offense continues its remarkable fade from a record-setting performance just two seasons ago. The collapses of Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies lead the way, with lack of production at shortstop and left field playing a big role as well. Closer Raisel Iglesias has struggled, and the team is 11-22 in one-run games. Spencer Strider hasn’t yet reached his pre-injury level and Reynaldo Lopez made just one start before going down.
The Braves haven’t missed the playoffs since 2017, but that run is clearly in jeopardy.
The Orioles have a similar record to the Braves but have played much worse, including losses of 24-2, 19-5, 15-3 and two separate 9-0 shutouts.
They will spend the trade deadline dealing away as many of their impending free agents as possible, and then do a lot of soul-searching heading into the offseason. After making the playoffs in 2023 and 2024, will this season just be a blip? While the pitching struggles aren’t necessarily a big surprise, what has happened to the offense? Are some of their young players prospects or suspects?
After two months of Cleveland Spiders-level baseball, it would be easy to make fun of the Rockies. Especially since they recently announced Walker Monfort — son of the owner — was promoted to executive VP and will replace outgoing president and COO Greg Feasel.
On the other hand, the Rockies are doing something right: They just drew 121,000 for a three-game series against the White Sox.
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Jorge Castillo
NEW YORK — The Yankees designated two-time batting champion DJ LeMahieu for assignment Wednesday, presumably ending the infielder’s seven-year tenure with the organization despite being owed $22 million through next season.
“Tough decisions,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “In the end, it ultimately comes down to how this roster sits and what’s best. You want to provide your manager with enough chess moves to deal with on a day-in and day-out basis in-game.”
Manager Aaron Boone explained that the move resulted from “an evolving conversation” in recent days that included multiple meetings with LeMahieu, a respected veteran in the Yankees’ clubhouse.
It comes a day after Boone announced that Jazz Chisholm Jr. would shift back to playing second base every day from third base, bumping LeMahieu from the team’s everyday second baseman to a bench role. Boone acknowledged LeMahieu took the demotion “not necessarily great” but emphasized that LeMahieu did not ask for his release.
“It’s been a tough couple of days,” Boone said. “Some hard conversations. And then ultimately coming to this decision, conclusion, obviously not easy for [who’s] been a great player. He’s done a lot of great things for this organization. So, difficult, but at the end [we] feel like this is the right thing to do at this time.”
LeMahieu, who turns 37 on Sunday, batted .266 with a .674 OPS in 45 games this season after starting the season on the injured list with a strained calf. He has been better since June 1, hitting .310 with a .754 OPS in 96 plate appearances as the Yankees’ primary second baseman, but Cashman ultimately decided the production wasn’t enough to offset his defensive liabilities.
The Yankees signed LeMahieu to a six-year, $90 million contract before the 2021 season — fresh off LeMahieu hitting .364 during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign to become the first player to win a batting title in both leagues in the modern era — envisioning him as an everyday utility player bouncing between infield positions.
LeMahieu made 36 of his 55 starts last season at third base before going on the injured list in early September with a right hip impingement for the remainder of the year. That injury, according to Cashman, inhibited LeMahieu’s ability to play third base, and led to LeMahieu informing him that he couldn’t physically handle playing the position anymore.
“He was always just sharing that the recovery was really difficult,” Cashman said. “The physical toll on him to tee up at that position was a problem and so therefore that position is a problem.”
The limitation was cemented during spring training when LeMahieu strained his left calf in his first Grapefruit League game playing third base, forcing the Yankees to conclude that LeMahieu was no longer an option at the position. He only played second base in his nine rehab games before making his season debut May 13 as a second baseman with Chisholm on the injured list with an oblique strain.
Three weeks later, Chisholm, who started the season as the team’s everyday second baseman, came off the injured list to play third base despite LeMahieu’s range at second base being glaringly limited. Chisholm, who feels most comfortable at second base, accepted the assignment and returned to third base, a position he picked up last season after the Yankees acquired him from the Miami Marlins at the trade deadline through the World Series.
The calculus changed Sunday when Chisholm, with the Yankees in the midst of a six-game losing streak, told reporters that he hurt his shoulder making a throw from third base three weeks earlier and the injury impacted his throwing. Two days later, Chisholm, who had made three throwing errors in his final four starts at third base, was the Yankees’ starting second baseman again.
With Chisholm, an All-Star this season, stationed at second base, former MVPs Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger entrenched at first base and Giancarlo Stanton occupying the DH spot, playing time would have been sparse for LeMahieu.
Factoring in that the Yankees’ options at third base behind Oswald Peraza, who is also the team’s backup shortstop, would have been catcher J.C. Escarra, Cashman determined that LeMahieu’s presence hampered the team’s flexibility to an extent that would have handcuffed Boone’s in-game decision-making. Infielder Jorbit Vivas, a light-hitting versatile defender, was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to replace LeMahieu on the roster.
“I wouldn’t say he’s unwilling to still make the attempt and maybe spell over there,” Cashman said of LeMahieu. “But it was something that he was without sharing that was steering clear of to the extent he could.
“Because, again, like anything else, he’s got a lot of pride. He’s a great player. He wants to contribute to the team. He loves this team. He loves this organization. But he felt that was an avenue that was no longer a realistic avenue and that kind of ties our hands a little bit more moving forward.”
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