2024 MLB offseason previews: What's next for the Braves, Diamondbacks, Orioles, Astros and other eliminated teams?
Some teams are competing to reach the World Series, but for these teams, the 2024 season is over
More than any other team sport, the baseball season is a marathon. The dynamics of each major-league roster are in constant flux as organizations deal with surges, slumps, injuries and disappointments throughout the 162-game campaign. When the dust settles, the front office in each city begins the process of analyzing successes and failures and building plans to get things right in the future. After all, every year, 29 of 30 teams fall short of reaching the ultimate goal.
As the 2024 MLB season winds down, we will dive deep on each organization as they are eliminated from postseason contention or lose a postseason series, with an examination of what happened in the concluding campaign and a forecast of what's ahead in the offseason. At the end of it all, we will conclude this series with an article reflecting on the season that was for the 2024 World Series champions.
Let's dig in.
Chicago White Sox
Even the most optimistic fans would have trouble finding things that went right for a team that might finish with the worst winning percentage in the past century. But amid the rubble, Garrett Crochet stood out as a bright spot. The lanky lefty was terrific on Opening Day and arrived at the All-Star Game as the MLB leader in strikeouts. Unfortunately, an innings-management strategy made the 25-year-old much more mortal in the second half, as was evidenced by the 6.75 ERA he logged in his six post-break starts. Read more
Colorado Rockies
The Rockies don’t have much pitching talent, but they have four innings-eaters under contract for 2025 in Cal Quantrill, Kyle Freeland, Austin Gomber and Ryan Feltner. Still, pitching remains the team’s biggest need by a wide margin, in both the rotation and the bullpen. Convincing high-end free agents to make half their appearances at Coors Field is always a challenge, which means Rockies management might have to settle for lesser names on the open market or explore trade options. Read more
Miami Marlins
A starting rotation that was supposed to be the team’s strength was ravaged by injuries. The downfall started when Eury Pérez was sidelined during spring training and wound up requiring Tommy John surgery. By the end of June, joining Pérez on the IL were Braxton Garrett, Jesús Luzardo and Ryan Weathers, who were all ticketed for major roles but will finish the season with fewer than 100 innings. Add 2022 Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara, who is recovering from 2023 Tommy John surgery, and the Marlins have a full rotation of talented starters on the injured list. Read more
Los Angeles Angels
As has been the case in many recent seasons, the list of things that went wrong starts with the health of Mike Trout. The 33-year-old opened the season with 10 homers in 29 games before requiring surgery on a torn meniscus in his left knee. He appeared in just one rehab game in July before he was shut down again and sent for a second surgery. The 29 contests logged by Trout marked a career low, and he’ll finish 2024 having played in just 41% of Angels games across the past four seasons. Read more
Washington Nationals
The Nationals’ rebuild turned a corner in 2024. Although the team didn’t make a major improvement in its final record, the Nats were one game below .500 on June 21 and sat six games out of a wild-card spot at the All-Star break. They also made strides with their run differential.
The best part of Washington’s improvement is that it was primarily keyed by ascending players who will be on the team for years to come. CJ Abrams made his first All-Star Game appearance as he continued to build on his 2023 breakout season, though he fell off a bit in the second half and finished the season demoted after a reported late night at a casino. Luis García Jr. followed up four mediocre campaigns by taking a sizable step forward. And James Wood posted strong rookie-year numbers after being promoted July 1. Read more
| Player | AB | AVG | HR | SB | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 C. Abrams | 541 | .246 | 20 | 31 | .747 |
 L. García Jr. | 500 | .282 | 18 | 22 | .762 |
 J. Wood | 295 | .264 | 9 | 14 | .781 |
Oakland Athletics
The A’s are in a strange position, as they will finish 2024 with one of baseball’s worst records, but they might have exceeded expectations. Many prognosticators pegged this team to finish last overall and lose 100 games, and the A’s will comfortably avoid both fates.
Brent Rooker is a big reason for the team’s relative respectability. The 29-year-old reached the 30-homer plateau for the second straight year, but this time around, he boosted his on-base rate and ranked among baseball’s OPS leaders throughout the season. Rooker was thrilled that the team didn’t deal him at the trade deadline. Read more
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates have several holes to fill before they can take the next step. Oneil Cruz will be a big part of the team going forward, but his position remains a work in progress. Cruz ranked second among shortstops in errors on Aug. 26, at which time manager Derek Shelton decided to shift him to center field. Isiah Kiner-Falefa replaced Cruz as shortstop, and with Kiner-Falefa signed for 2025, the switch can extend into next season. Cruz will be joined in the outfield by franchise cornerstone Bryan Reynolds and Bryan De La Cruz, who was acquired from Miami at the trade deadline. Read more
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Cincinnati Reds
Plenty of things went wrong for a team that was supposed to contend for the postseason. Several exciting young hitters endured disappointing years. Perhaps no player was more frustrated than Matt McLain, who was expected to be a lineup centerpiece before he underwent shoulder surgery and wound up missing the entire season.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand had similar expectations but didn’t fare much better. He played poorly in 29 games before having his season ended by a fractured right hand that required surgery. Noelvi Marte was another young hitter who let the team down, as he was suspended for the initial 80 games of the season and made little impact in the second half. Read more
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San Francisco Giants
The team’s two most effective hitters were both in the minors at times this season. Heliot Ramos was promoted early in May and quickly became a proficient power hitter who overcame mediocre plate discipline. Tyler Fitzgerald didn’t initially take off to the same degree, but after logging 86 plate appearances in the first half, he took over as the starting shortstop after the All-Star break and became a dynamic offensive contributor. Read more
St. Louis Cardinals
The team’s two lineup centerpieces, Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, experienced notable decline. Arenado reached base at a similar rate as 2023 but provided less power. The decline for Goldschmidt was more significant, and 2024 marked the second straight year that he took a big step backward.
Nolan Gorman is less essential to the Cards than Goldschmidt or Arenado, but he let the team down, nonetheless. Gorman has never been a high-average hitter, but this year he consistently struggled to keep his average over .200, and his power numbers took a turn for the worse as well. He was optioned to the minors in late August. Read more
Toronto Blue Jays
With everything crumbling around him, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. put together his best season since he finished second in AL MVP voting in 2021. Vladdy didn’t dominate all season, as he owned a .679 OPS at the end of April. But from May on, the 25-year-old was one of baseball’s best hitters.
Guerrero is one year away from free agency, and now he and management can go into the offseason with the knowledge that he can play at a level that warrants a significant, long-term commitment. Read more
Texas Rangers
When a team slips from World Series champion to postseason pretender, there’s no shortage of things that went wrong. Marcus Semien wasn’t a massive disappointment, but his offensive game experienced a notable year-over-year decline. At the same time, to Semien’s credit, he continued to be one of baseball’s most durable players. His decline was less stark than that of Adolis García, who was one of the biggest catalysts of Texas’ World Series run. García was terrific in April this year before batting under .200 each of the next three months. Read more
Chicago Cubs
A few veteran position players endured disappointing seasons in 2024. Cody Bellinger was the headliner of that group, as his year-over-year OPS dropped by more than 100 points. A lower BABIP and small changes to his barrel rate were among the contributing factors to his decline. Dansby Swanson also struggled, and his decline was primarily related to decreased power production. That said, Swanson deserves credit for continuing to play strong defense at shortstop. Nico Hoerner was the third veteran who took a step back. Like Bellinger, he was primarily felled by a decline in batted-ball luck. Read more
| Player | AB | AVG | HR | SB | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 C. Bellinger | 516 | .266 | 18 | 9 | .751 |
 D. Swanson | 534 | .242 | 16 | 19 | .701 |
 N. Hoerner | 582 | .273 | 7 | 31 | .708 |
Tampa Bay Rays
After ranking fourth in baseball in runs scored last year, the Rays were among the lowest-scoring teams in the league in 2024. Josh Lowe’s strikeout rate ballooned, and in turn, his on-base percentage dropped. His struggles were mainly isolated to the first half of the season, when he dealt with an oblique injury and posted a .652 OPS across 44 games. Yandy Díaz experienced an even larger decline than Lowe, as both his on-base rate and his power numbers took significant tumbles. Christopher Morel was acquired at the trade deadline in the Isaac Paredes deal, but instead of sparking the lineup, Morel struck out often and made the problems worse. Read more
Boston Red Sox
On the offensive side, several players are wrapping up excellent seasons. Rafael Devers continues to be the centerpiece of the batting order, and he will finish 2024 with an OPS over .850 for a fourth straight year. Jarren Duran took an exciting step forward for a second straight season, cementing his status as a terrific table-setter while also playing excellent defense. And after struggling in St. Louis the previous two years, Tyler O’Neill reclaimed his status as a dangerous power hitter. His long-term durability problems continued with three IL stints, but they were all brief. Read more
Seattle Mariners
No matter how well the pitching staff fared, it couldn’t make up for an underwhelming offense. Seattle ranks among the bottom 10 teams in runs scored, and the Mariners struck out more than any other club.
Julio Rodríguez entered the 2024 season as one of baseball’s biggest superstars, but by September, he was simply trying to be a league-average hitter. The 23-year-old didn’t experience notable changes in his strikeout or walks rates, but his average exit velocity and barrel rate took significant dips. The changes to his batted-ball profile led to far fewer extra-base hits. Rodríguez also started the season slowly, and shortly after he turned things around in July, he suffered an ankle injury that led to an IL stint. A hot September couldn’t make up for a lackluster season overall. Read more
Minnesota Twins
Everything was going pretty well in Minnesota until the final weeks of the season. On Sept. 5, the Twins were sitting at 74-62 with a 95.4% chance of qualifying for the postseason, per FanGraphs. Then the Twins were swept in a pivotal series with the Royals, which kicked off a stretch in which Minnesota went 6-14 from Sept. 6 to Sept. 27. The Twins won just one of six series during that span and fell to 82-78 with their loss to the Orioles on Sept. 27, which eliminated them from the postseason. During that dismal stretch, Royce Lewis, Jose Miranda, Ryan Jeffers and Edouard Julien all posted an OPS under .500, and Pablo Lopez, David Festa and Simeon Woods Richardson each logged an ERA over 4.50 while making at least three starts. Read more
Arizona Diamondbacks
As good as the offense was, Arizona missed the postseason because of a pitching staff that finished 27th in ERA, which included posting the worst ERA in baseball (5.34) in September. The blame for that was equally split between the rotation and the relief corps.
The disappointments were everywhere within the starting staff, as no one who started a single game finished the year with an ERA below 3.65. Zac Gallen (3.65 ERA) was acceptable, as was Merrill Kelly (4.03 ERA), albeit across just 13 starts. Brandon Pfaadt (4.71 ERA) and Ryne Nelson (4.24 ERA) were disappointing, while the March signing of Jordan Montgomery (6.23 ERA) was disastrous. Kelly and Eduardo Rodriguez combined for just 23 starts. Read more
Houston Astros
The team’s run production was barely better than average, as a few players let the club down. Jose Abreu regressed even further after a notable decline in 2023. The organization tried everything, including a May stint in the minors, before giving up and releasing Abreu in June. Jon Singleton deserves credit for plugging the hole at first base, but he didn’t make much of an offensive impact. Chas McCormick was an even bigger disappointment than Abreu, as he followed his breakout 2023 by struggling mightily at the plate (.576 OPS), spending time in the minors and enduring two IL stints. Read more
Baltimore Orioles
In terms of position players, Adley Rutschman might have been the biggest disappointment. It’s hard to complain about a workhorse at baseball’s most demanding position, but Rutschman fell off dramatically after a solid start, logging a .585 OPS in the second half. Overall, his year-over-year OPS dropped by 100 points.
Beyond Rutschman, the biggest offensive disappointment was the collective failure of the team’s top prospects to help the club in the second half of the season. In April, the offensive talent on Baltimore’s Triple-A team, the Norfolk Tides, was the talk of baseball. But as the Orioles watched the Yankees surge ahead of them to win the division title, they received only minimal contributions from the likes of Jackson Holliday, Coby Mayo and Heston Kjerstad. Read more
Atlanta Braves
The Braves might have the brightest future of any MLB franchise. The roster is loaded with talent, and most of the key players are signed to reasonable, long-term contracts. The infield is set for 2025, with Matt Olson (first base), Ozzie Albies (second base), Austin Riley (third base) and Orlando Arcia (shortstop) under contract. Behind the plate, the team returns Sean Murphy and has a team option on Travis d’Arnaud.
Two-thirds of the outfield is accounted for. Ronald Acuña Jr. is aiming to return from his knee surgery by Opening Day. He will play right field, alongside Michael Harris II, who will be the center fielder. Jarred Kelenic had some good moments in his first season with the club but didn’t hit well overall. Still, he’s just 25 years old and should be a payroll fit due to his low salary at the early stages of his career. The club will undoubtedly pick up the $16 million option to bring Marcell Ozuna back as the DH. Read more
