The season is only about a week old, so there¡¯s no reason to freak out about anything just yet! After all, there is a long history of teams overcoming season-opening losing streaks to make the playoffs -- even if the 0-7 Braves have now pushed into unprecedented territory. Still, with the postseason field having expanded in 2022 to include three Wild Cards per league, teams have a better chance than ever to rebound into October.
But as a wise man once said, it gets late early out there. Considering the offseason expectations for some MLB teams, there is nothing scarier than a rough opening month that could open the door to some very difficult in-season decisions, a little more quickly than anyone might have been expecting.
You always want to get off to a hot start. But a stellar opening month is particularly imperative for these six teams, some of which have made better progress than others toward that goal. (Each club is listed with its record through Thursday.)
Astros (3-4)
Last year, for the first time since 2016, the Astros did not make it to the American League Championship Series. That, along with the trade of Kyle Tucker and the loss of Alex Bregman in free agency (plus the existential weirdness of seeing Jose Altuve in left field), has led to an overarching sense that the Astros may be at the end of a dominant run that included nine playoff appearances, four World Series trips and two championships over the previous 10 seasons.
Last year, Houston was able to overcome a slow start, winning the AL West despite losing 20 of its first 30 games, then falling 10 games out of first place in mid-June. But if the Astros face similar early struggles in 2025, you have to wonder if they¡¯d have the horses to catch up this time around. If they fall too far behind, does that put, say, Framber Valdez (a free agent after this season) on the trade market? And if the Astros are sellers at the Deadline ¡ are they even the Astros anymore?
Blue Jays (5-2)
No team meets the definition of ¡°needs a great start¡± more than the Blue Jays, for both their short-term and long-term future. They have, rather infamously at this point, been unable to come to terms on an extension with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (or Bo Bichette, for that matter), which means if the Blue Jays hit an April skid in a wildly competitive American League East, the buzzards will start circling. We might just have us a Vladdy trade season feeding frenzy.
That¡¯s the last thing the Blue Jays want, which is why this April is so vital to them -- and why their April schedule is so scary. They get the Mets, the Red Sox, the Orioles and the Astros ¡ all on the road. (Not to mention the Braves, Mariners and Red Sox at home.) Now that their series against the Nationals is behind them, they won¡¯t face a single team for the rest of this month that had a losing record in 2024. Good luck.
Cubs (5-4)
The Cubs have a lot of hot prospects coming up through the system (and some already on the team), so it¡¯s not like they¡¯re 2025-or-bust or anything. But ¡ they kind of are? You don¡¯t bring in Tucker, an MVP candidate, for one guaranteed season -- he¡¯s about to be the center of Hot Stove season this winter -- if you don¡¯t plan on winning in that season. That¡¯s particularly true for a franchise that famously traded away the core of its beloved 2016 team for a future that hasn¡¯t arrived quite yet. (The Cubs haven¡¯t won a playoff game since 2017, after all.)
This is a fanbase that has been through a lot the past few years, and yet another year of falling short, particularly given the expectations that came with Tucker, would not be well-received. The Cubs put two losses on the board before any other team this season, thanks to the Dodgers¡¯ Tokyo Series sweep, and if that trend continues through April, things could get tense on the North Side.
Padres (7-0)
There were a lot of people, heading into last October, who thought the Padres were going to the World Series. And in fact, they very nearly knocked off the Dodgers in the NLDS. But heading into 2025? You had to wonder, considering how idle this team was in the offseason, whether the Padres may have missed their window.
This is a team that still has a lot of long-term contracts hanging around but that didn¡¯t act with nearly as much urgency this past winter as it did over the previous few years. Well, that hasn¡¯t been a problem so far. Not only are the Padres right there along with the Dodgers among the ranks of the undefeated heading into Friday¡¯s series opener at Wrigley Field, they also inked a young star to a long-term contract extension. As long as those good vibes continue, the Padres can hold off questions about whether this roster will need a reset sooner rather than later.
Twins (2-5)
Here¡¯s something that has snuck up on the Twins: They¡¯re getting kind of old. Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton are both in their 30s already. (How can that be possible?) Even their homegrown players are a little older than you think; Trevor Larnach is 28, Matt Wallner and Ryan Jeffers are 27. The only young star this team has, Royce Lewis, is in a place quite familiar for Twins fans: the injured list.
This should be the prime time for the Twins, particularly with how much talent the rest of the division (even the White Sox!) has coming up through the ranks. So if the Twins can¡¯t make something happen this year, with their division foes only getting better, why should anyone think they can do it next year? Their late-season collapse in 2024 looms large here. Are they going to keep running out of gas late? What happens if they can¡¯t even build up a lead in April?
Yankees (4-2)
The Yankees are always under pressure. While it¡¯s nothing that some Torpedo bats can¡¯t cure (at least temporarily), let¡¯s not kid ourselves. Considering all the bad vibes surrounding this team when the season began (Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton being out, all those defensive issues), there is no margin for error here, particularly in this division. And early on, theoretically, is as healthy as a veteran team like this is as likely to get.
As we saw against the Brewers to open the season, the Yankees can destroy you when everything¡¯s clicking, but their depth is sure to become an issue. In other words, they need to win in April. Key pivot point: See where they are compared to the Orioles when the two teams meet at Camden Yards at the end of the month (April 28-30). If the Yankees are behind the young Orioles at all at that point, that could be a clear warning sign. Though then again: Maybe the Torpedo bats save them.