We are just about three months away from Opening Day, when everyone is 0-0 again.
Opening Day marks the moment when everything starts over – where everyone hopes this is the beginning of a season that leads to a coveted World Series trophy.
Of course, some teams, despite whatever hope you have, have much more of a chance than others.
But whether you’re a contender or not, all 30 teams should have goals for the 2024 season to make their road to a title shorter.
Here are each MLB team’s New Year’s resolutions:
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They won the National League pennant after just 84 regular season wins. While far from a superteam, they’ve proven to turn heads. Keep it going, and let Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll become an MVP candidate.
The last two seasons have ended way too early, both at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS. But there’s no reason to think this team won’t be in the World Series mix. The year 2021 was a fun ride, but this can’t wind up like the ‘90s Braves, which had just one title to show for what probably should have been a dynasty.
After 101 wins, the O’s were swept in the ALDS. They have elite young talent in Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, and soon-to-be Jackson Holliday. After years of rebuilding, they cannot let it go to waste.
Chaim Bloom didn’t work out – now, former MLB pitcher Craig Breslow leads the baseball operations. It’s a rough roster as it stands right now, but history shows the Sox, no matter who’s in charge, can somehow become dangerous at random.
The Cubs have a whole lot of money saved up but haven’t gone crazy yet. They opted to keep Cody Bellinger at the trade deadline amid their playoff push but came up short.
They really wanted Shohei Ohtani, so it’s not like they aren’t eventually going to be aggressive. After going 83-79 last year, they should keep tabs on the market and get back to being a threat.
In the season following, somehow, the most lucrative contract they’ve ever shelled out (Andrew Benintendi’s $85 million), they won 61 games. They also have tons of talent in Dylan Cease and Luis Robert. If you’re going to lose with the talent, you might as well lose without it and attempt to start it all over.
Some of the big fish in free agency are gone, but there are still good moves to be made for a team that won 82 games last year, was in the postseason race until the season ended, and have one of the most talented players in baseball in Elly De La Cruz. They had no choice but to cut ties with Joey Votto, but that also saved them some cash – go out and use it (Blake Snell and Jorge Soler are nice names to monitor).
The Guardians surprised just about everyone when they won the AL Central in 2022, then became the favorites to do so this past season. But they missed the postseason.
They have lots of tough outs with guys who don’t like striking out. They also have talented arms in Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie. Get back to the 2022 ways and kill opponents slowly – and then have some sustained success.
Rockies starters ranked dead last with a 5.91 ERA last year; it was the same number in 2022, and that ranked 29th. Both German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela will miss most of 2024 with Tommy John surgery recovery, but Kyle Freeland and Austin Gomber do look like they could headstart some sort of rotation resurgence. However, that’s probably not enough.
Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene are some of the best young talents the game has to offer – Javier Baez hasn’t quite worked out, but they did have 78 wins last year, their most since 2016. They’re in danger of missing the postseason for 10 straight years, and the young guys can’t break that streak themselves.
The Astros just know how to produce talent – Framber Valdez was in the Cy Young Award mix, and Kyle Tucker is an MVP candidate, finishing fifth after a career-high .886 OPS. Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez are all here long-term – make a new core after losing Carlos Correa and George Springer.
Bobby Witt Jr. has insanely raw talent – he hit 30 home runs and stole 49 bases in is second MLB season. But the rest of the Royals have anything but, as they went 56-106. Talk about wasting one’s prime. They’ve brought in Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo for the rotation, but outside of Witt and Salvador Perez, the offense remains stale.
Trade him, find better talent around him, do something. This has been their resolution for his entire career, but it can’t be stated enough that someone like this needs to be on the game’s biggest stage – Trout has been to the postseason just once in his career, way back in 2014.
And then do it again. And then do it again.
You just committed to over $1 billion in contracts this offseason, including the largest contract in North American sports history and the largest ever given to a pitcher in MLB history. You have made the postseason each year since 2013, and your only title came in the truncated 2020 season. Anything less than a title is a failure for the next several years.
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The Marlins have a young, scrappy team who made their first non-2020 postseason since 2003. It’s a fun team in a great city. Keep wearing those early-2000s uniforms, keep winning, and stop being at the bottom of the barrel of attendance.
It seems like Cy Young Award candidate Corbin Burnes is on the block, but he shouldn’t be. There’s no sense in selling off after a season in which you just won the division by nine games. In a weak division, they are clearly the best team (although St. Louis should bounce back). Rock with what you have, and hope for a Diamondbacks-like magic carpet ride.
He has played in over 100 games just once in his career, no matter what. They even made him a DH, despite his Gold Glove caliber defense. Maybe it’s simply just a lost cause, but they just won the division with a half-season of him. Keep him healthy, and stay a threat in the AL Central.
Steve Cohen openly admitted 2024 might not be a year of contention, but his wallet gives them a chance to get back there sooner rather than later. Extend Pete Alonso, keep tabs on Juan Soto next year, and make Queens the hottest ticket in town.
Last season was the worst season the organization has seen in a generation, but the Empire struck back by acquiring Juan Soto. Don’t let Steve Cohen take him – go back to the 2009 ways, and become Evil again.
The A’s aren’t slated to move to Las Vegas until 2027, but their lease at the Coliseum ends after this season. Fans have tried to convince ownership to stay, but it didn’t work. Rob Manfred can say fans were too late, but can you blame fans for not coming to see a 50-win team? Give the fan base a proper goodbye and find a way to stay in Oakland for 2025 and 2026 before the drive to Sin City.
The Phillies were a game away from back-to-back pennants and are bringing back most of the same roster from last year – including Bryce Harper. They became a lovable bunch in each of the last two Octobers, and they are this close.
The Pirates started off hot last year, but fizzled out. However, they have two superb talents in Oneil Cruz and Ke’Bryan Hayes. By no means is this a bad roster, and 2021 first overall pick Henry Davis figures to be in the mix for a full season.
You don’t have to be the 2023 Baltimore Orioles, but they can definitely be in the mix late in the season – and who remembers how fun those mid-2010s postseason games were?
It’s either this or continue the fire sale – but they still have an elite trio in Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts, and they got a nice return after trading Soto. The excitement from the last two seasons is dwindling, but the window isn’t glued shut.
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The Giants were this close to getting Aaron Judge last year and Shohei Ohtani this year. They even had Carlos Correa before poor physicals, which isn’t their fault. But how many more players will slip through the cracks for a team that won 107 games just two seasons ago?
After missing the postseason for 21 straight years, they’ve been it in each of the last two. Yes, they did get Luis Castillo in 2022, but they still are a good, not great, team, with a fan base starving for more. The AL West is a legitimate three-team race, and there’s no reason they can’t be at the top of it if they make one more big move.
You have to hope that after making the postseason four straight years, and winning the NL Central in 2022, that last year was simply just an outlier. There are a lot of stars on this team, and there is no excuse for them to repeat their last-place 71-91 outcome from this past season.
The Rays have the same problem as the Marlins: no one goes to their games. Tropicana Field is miserable to get to, and it’s long been rumored the team is going to move. It’s time to make those rumors a reality, find a better location in the Tampa area (look at the Buccaneers and Lightning), and get there sooner rather than later – even if it’s in a totally new part of the country.
The Rangers have a legitimate shot at being a World Series threat every year. They got by with their bullpen struggles thanks to great starting pitching and offense to win their first Fall Classic, but October baseball can be a crapshoot, and it will be scary if they have to rely on that again.
In each of the last two seasons, the Blue Jays have been everyone’s “sleeper” to win the AL East thanks to their swagger and talent – yet they haven’t won a postseason game since 2016. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alek Manoah hate the Yankees, but they need to love winning more.
The Patrick Corbin and Stephen Strasburg deals are turning out to be two of the worst in MLB history, but at least Corbin is coming off the books this season. There also have been rumors that Strasburg and the Nats could work out a buyout. Right now, they’re being held back from doing anything big, but there are some pieces on the market they could bring in to at least try and improve from last season’s 71-91.
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