Passan: I’ve never seen such a distinct World Series favorite as the Dodgers (0:48)Jeff Passan joins “SportsCenter” to discuss the Dodgers’ outlook for the 2026 MLB season. (0:48)
Jeff PassanMar 13, 2026, 07:00 AM ETMultiple Authors
The 2026 MLB regular season is less than two weeks away, with the New York Yankees visiting the San Francisco Giants in a March 25 season opener followed by a full schedule of Opening Day games the next day. That means it is the perfect time to see where every team stands heading into the new season.
Here is a team-by-team look at the year ahead for all 30 MLB teams — the most vital players, insider intel, spring buzz, fantasy help and prospect insight all in one place. Whether your team is a World Series contender or already playing for next year, there is something for you here.
The O’s lineup is deep, powerful and features a nice mixture of veterans and kids. But if the Orioles can’t pitch, all of their offseason acquisitions — including signing first baseman Pete Alonso and closer Ryan Helsley — will be for naught. Bradish is the bulwark against that.
How to win your fantasy league: Nearly every projection model believes catcher Samuel Basallo is a top-five prospect in all of baseball. The Orioles already have him locked up through 2034. While finding playing time could be tricky with Adley Rutschman behind the plate and Pete Alonso at first base, sometimes a bat forces its way into the lineup. And considering Basallo qualifies at such a thin position, drafting him is a no-brainer.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Gunnar Henderson returns to his 2024 form. His OPS fell by nearly 100 points last season, and while he was still one of the best all-around players in baseball, Henderson’s bum left shoulder impeded his production.
He’s healthy now, emboldened by his time at the World Baseball Classic and ready for a return to superstardom that few can match. At 24, Henderson is smack in the middle of his prime and the sort of talent who can carry a team to the postseason.
Why the season hinges on Roman Anthony: Nobody on the Red Sox roster can match Anthony’s ceiling — and constant work in Boston’s batting cages has helped him elevate the ball more consistently. Should that translate into the regular season, the Red Sox are looking at an MVP candidate.
At 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, Anthony is a physical specimen who also understands how to draw walks and frustrate pitchers with his almost laser-like sense of the strike zone. If Anthony is good, the Red Sox will be good. If Anthony is great, Boston’s ceiling is limitless.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Garrett Crochet’s new splitter makes him even nastier. Already Crochet is, at worst, a top-five pitcher. Nobody reasonably would quibble with suggesting he’s next in line behind Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes among all pitchers. And to complement his three-fastball mix with something that moves vertically takes what’s already great and amplifies it.
How to win your fantasy league: Pay what you need to pay to get Aaron Judge. Yeah, real good insight there, Passan. It’s true, though. Judge is head and shoulders above other hitters. He has won three of the past four American League MVP awards and consistently hits the ball harder than anyone in the game. Reliability matters in fantasy, and no one is close to Judge in that department.
Why the season hinges on Shane McClanahan: The last time McClanahan threw in a major league game was Aug. 2, 2023. Two surgeries later, he’s back on the mound, and while his fastball velocity so far this spring is down two or three ticks from the 97 mph heat he regularly brought before his injury, McClanahan still is ramping up slowly and judiciously, and the Rays believe there’s more in the tank.
Does that mean McClanahan can still be the overpowering ace he was before Tommy John and nerve surgeries? The answer to that could be the difference between a Rays rotation that’s among the AL’s best and one that’s missing a true frontline arm.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Junior Caminero finishes in the top three in AL MVP voting. Caminero is still just 22, and he hits the ball as hard and consistently as anyone not named Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani.
Don’t discount what he’s taking from the World Baseball Classic, either. He won’t just leave the tournament with the knowledge gained from his time with the Dominican Republic wrecking crew; he’s a vital cog in the operation, and what that does for a young player’s confidence is immeasurable.
Why the season hinges on Jeff Hoffman: As Toronto fans well know, the Blue Jays were two outs from beating the Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series last year when Miguel Rojas took Hoffman deep to tie the game. They return most of their deep well of professional hitters, added Dylan Cease to a strong rotation and continue to play tremendously clean defense.
The bullpen, then, is Toronto’s potential Achilles’ heel — even with the addition of Tyler Rogers — and Hoffman playing security blanket instead of fire starter in the ninth inning is the sort of stabilizer needed in an AL East built to expose every little weakness that exists.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Dylan Cease finishes second in AL Cy Young voting. Fresh off a seven-year, $210 million free agent windfall, Cease joins a Blue Jays pitching machine that delights in taking raw stuff and molding it into something more.
Cease always has been a stuff guy, and with a little bit of polish, his strikeout artistry has the potential to morph into something more. You don’t find many 30-year-olds with ceiling left. Cease has finished second for the Cy Young once before and is primed to do it again.
Why the season hinges on Munetaka Murakami: The White Sox aren’t going to be good this year. They simply don’t have the starting pitching depth yet. But they will be better, and as they transition from the doldrums of the most losses ever in 2024 to a future that looks bright, Murakami is their high-risk, high-reward bet.
How to win your fantasy league: Yes, Kyle Teel is out four to six weeks with a hamstring injury. But if you’re in a league with injured reserve or a deep bench, it offers an even greater opportunity to steal him now and earn dividends later. Teel is a top 10 catcher bat, and he’s currently going 17th (and 253rd overall) in ESPN drafts. Opportunity is there for the taking.
Why the season hinges on Jose Ramírez: Because it always does. The Guardians finished 29th in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage in 2025, and their most impactful move to add a hitter was … signing Rhys Hoskins to a minor league contract.
As much as Cleveland hopes some of its young players grow into lineup staples, the onus remains on Ramirez, who has carried the Guardians for years and will continue to do so in 2026. The nightmare scenario is an injury or regression, but then Ramirez’s hallmark is his consistency. It’s what has got him on a clear path to Cooperstown, regardless of how little help ownership gives Cleveland’s front office to supplement an offense that badly needs more.
How to win your fantasy league: Lack of name recognition notwithstanding, Cleveland annually develops starting pitchers as if it has cracked the code. Gavin Williams broke out last year, and though Parker Messick is a strong possibility this year, the bet here is that left-hander Joey Cantillo could be the latest. Cantillo’s stuff looks just OK on paper, but his outlier traits – elite extension and the lowest-spinning four-seam fastball in MLB — make him a deep sleeper worth a flier.
It wouldn’t surprise me if … Chase DeLauter is the second-best hitter in the Guardians’ lineup. This depends, of course, on DeLauter staying healthy, which has proven troublesome since his junior year of college in 2022. Since then, he has played in 57, 39 and 42 games. Those issues haven’t been major, but DeLauter has to shake his injury-proneness to reach his All-Star-caliber potential.
Why the season hinges on Tarik Skubal: Beyond being the best pitcher in the world, Skubal is the proxy of the Tigers’ 2026 season. If he is a Tiger, that means they are good. And if he gets traded at the deadline with free agency and a $400 million-plus contract awaiting him there next offseason, the Tigers probably stumbled along the way.
At this point, Skubal’s bona fides are incontrovertible: the stuff, moxie and consistency — it’s all there, with two American League Cy Young Awards to show for it. With Framber Valdez in the rotation behind him, there might not be a better 1-2 punch in the game, and walking into 40% of your games confident that you’ll emerge victorious is quite the place to start for the Tigers.
Why the season hinges on Bobby Witt Jr.: At 25, Witt is in the middle of his prime, and though he was typically excellent in 2025, there’s more in the tank. That’s quite a thing to say for a player coming off a seven-win season, but putting limits on Witt’s talent is a fool’s errand.
How to win your fantasy league: Though Carter Jensen won’t play behind the plate full time — the Royals have Salvador Perez — he’ll qualify at the position. And it’s not going out on a limb to say he’ll be a top-five hitter there, even as a rookie. Jensen’s power is monumental, and his willingness to let the ball travel and wallop it to the opposite field speaks to a maturity well beyond his 22 years. Kansas City’s offense has a chance to be very good this year, and Jensen is one big reason.
Why the season hinges on Joe Ryan: As many young pitchers as the Twins have acquired, Ryan is their bellwether, a high-strikeout, low-walk, tough-to-square-up artiste. His minor back injury has been resolved, and though Ryan’s fastball velocity in his first start this spring was down nearly 2 mph from his average last year, he remains the stabilizing force on a team in transition.
How to win your fantasy league: Though Luke Keaschall going around the 150th pick in ESPN drafts illustrates that fans know of him, that’s still 50 spots too late. All Keaschall does is hit, and had he not gotten hurt and missed more than half the season last year, he would easily be a top-100 player this year. Get in now while the getting’s good. He’s an anchor, he’s a keeper, he’s a power-speed-average menace.