The baseball offseason waits for no one.
Opt-outs, managerial hirings and free agent filings are the talk of the day a mere five nights after one of the greatest Game 7s of all-time.
Here’s our look at the tasks ahead of the 12 teams who made the playoffs this season, leading off with the teams with the most to do through the run-it-back-mode Tigers:
San Diego Padres: They finally hired a manager in Craig Stammen (really), but the Padres still have an unsettled ownership situation and pitchers Dylan Cease, Michael King and Robert Suarez all headed for free agency. Oh and Yu Darvish just underwent elbow surgery and will miss next season. Everything is in play, from A.J. Preller pulling a bunch of rabbits out of his hat again to beginning a teardown.
Philadelphia Phillies: The Phillies haven’t won a postseason round since 2023 and 30-somethings Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto are both free agents. But Philadelphia unearthed an ace this season in Cristopher Sanchez and the go-for-it Dave Dombrowski is more likely to sign Schwarber, Realmuto and a high-end No. 2 pitcher (Cease or King?) and worry about the future in the future.
Toronto Blue Jays: The Jays suffered the most agonizing near-miss in World Series history thanks largely to an older rotation (135 starts were made by pitchers 30 years or older) as well as a resurgent year by 36-year-old George Springer and a surprise breakout by Ernie Clement. A full year of Trey Yesavage will be a big boost, but they’ll still need to fortify the rotation and hope Clement can handle a full-time role if Bo Bichette exits.
Cleveland Guardians: The Guardians again have great pitching and nobody to protect likely Hall of Famer Jose Ramirez. CJ Kayfus and Chase DeLauter look like keepers, but Cleveland needs to trade for a proven bat – someone such as Taylor Ward or Jeff McNeil – to deepen the lineup.
Milwaukee Brewers: The team that manages to get better even after trading star pitchers is likely to try that again with Freddy Peralta entering his walk year…and barely miss a beat thanks to the 2026 versions of Isaac Collins, Caleb Durbin and Quinn Priester, all of whom emerged from anonymity to help Milwaukee win a team-record 97 games. So at this point, none of us should advise the Brewers.
New York Yankees: Fundamentals continue to undo the Yankees, who wasted terrific performances by Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon and budding ace Cam Schlittler. They could do a lot worse than poaching Bichette to begin overturning the middle of their infield. Retaining Bellinger, a born for New York star who thrives around the diamond, is a must.
Cincinnati Reds: With a flame-throwing rotation overseen by a Hall of Fame-bound manager, the Reds are two-thirds of the way to serious contention. Alas, they don’t spend much money and Elly De La Cruz was the only position player to register a WAR better than 3.0. They’ll have to be creative, but former All-Stars such as McNeil and Adolis Garcia could be available via trade.
Chicago Cubs: This would be a great time for the Cubs to act like a big-market team again. But they already parted ways with Shota Imanaga and have never seemed likely to sign Kyle Tucker long-term. That said, the everyday lineup sans Tucker remains impressive and there might be a bargain to be found for the rotation in Zac Gallen or Merrill Kelly.
Detroit Tigers: The Tigers might as well go for it in what may be their last year with Tarik Skubal. Amongst a bevy of young position players, only Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter look like potential difference-makers. Free agent hitters hate Detroit and the Tigers don’t play in that end of the water. So why not see if the Arizona Diamondbacks believe it’s time to divorce Ketel Marte?
–By Jerry Beach
Boston Red Sox: Craig Breslow unloaded Rafael Devers and locked up a spate of homegrown position players, so the Red Sox are positioned to contend until John Henry starts pinching pennies again. Dealing from their depth of young big leaguers and prospects for a starting pitcher (Peralta or Sandy Alcantara?) to slot in behind Garrett Crochet might lift Boston to the top of the AL East.
Seattle Mariners: The Mariners are in a weird spot in that they didn’t win it all, yet they don’t feel one or two players away because of their terrific pitching and a lineup filled with in-their-prime stars. Re-signing trade deadline star Josh Naylor and running it back should be enough to win a division in transition.
Los Angeles Dodgers: The Dodgers got fewer than 2.0 regular season WAR for spending more than $250 million last off-season on Blake Snell, Michael Conforto, Hyeseong Kim, Roki Sasaki, Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates…and won the World Series again anyway. So they should just sign everyone while they still can in this last winter before the lockout. (But especially Tucker, who could add some relative youth to an older lineup)
