The Dodgers and Cubs will open the 2025 season with the two-game Tokyo Series on March 18-19. We¡¯ll be counting down to that date with our annual preview series, with each story looking ahead to the coming season by breaking down a particular topic, division by division.

Previously: Each division¡¯s most bitter rivalry entering 2025

Today: The team facing the highest stakes in each division

Every team, regardless of what we might call its ¡°competitive window,¡± wants to win the World Series every year. But there are some years when the stakes are particularly high.

This is when a team reaches a certain put-up-or-shut-up point, when years of frustration or a specific addition or investment in that team make it clear that success needs to come immediately ¡­ or else. Maybe it¡¯s a World Series win, maybe it¡¯s a playoff series victory, maybe it¡¯s just a winning season. But some teams simply can¡¯t afford a step backward ¡ª not at this moment.

Thus we take a look at the team in each division that has the highest stakes this season, a team that needs to break through or potentially face some dramatic changes ¡­ and perhaps the wrath of its own fanbase.

AL West: Mariners

When the Mariners ended their 20-season playoff drought in 2022 and celebrated with a Wild Card Series sweep over the Blue Jays, it sure felt like a breakthrough, didn¡¯t it? They had terrific young pitching, an ambitious front office, a fanbase that was over the moon in love with that team and, of course, a young, charismatic, five-tool superstar in Julio Rodr¨ªguez who was the envy of every other franchise in the sport. That¡¯s the sort of guy everyone wants to build around.

But since then ¡­ well, nothing has really happened. The pitching has still been good, but the bottom has fallen out of the offense and, it has to be said, Julio still hasn¡¯t put together a season as good as the one he had as a rookie. Despite all the talk that this division would someday soon belong to the M¡¯s, it¡¯s the Astros (the team that knocked them out of those playoffs in 2022) who keep winning it every year. Another division rival, the Rangers, went out and won their first World Series title ¨C the one Mariners fans are so desperate to taste.

The Mariners have strung together four straight winning seasons but only have that lone postseason appearance to show for it, and they don¡¯t seem to have solved most of the issues they were dealing with last year. Seattle fans waited a long time for a playoff appearance. They might not be so willing to wait nearly as long this time.

AL Central: Twins

In 2023, the Twins, at last, won a postseason game for the first time since 2004, after losing 18 in a row. That made Twins fans very happy, in no small part because it meant people would stop bringing it up. But then they went down in four games to the Astros and, in 2024, missed the postseason entirely despite three other teams in their division making it to October. A 12-27 finish was the culprit, dropping Minnesota out of a Wild Card spot.

That speaks to the overall issue here: The Twins can¡¯t stay healthy and upright enough to rule this division the way their fanbase believes they should. That looks like the issue once again in 2025. If Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis can¡¯t stay on the field, it¡¯s going to be difficult for this team to win, especially given its lack of significant offseason additions.

• Busy winter of conditioning has pain-free Correa optimistic

Keeping those three healthy is going to get more difficult, not less; remember, Correa and Buxton are now in their 30s, if you can believe that. With that core aging, you have to wonder if the Twins need to win now, while they still can. The rest of this division is building something. It is starting to feel like the Twins are just trying to hold on.

AL East: Orioles

You could make an argument that the Blue Jays should be the pick here. Their resistance to dealing away Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette at the Trade Deadline last year put a ton of pressure on the 2025 season (particularly the season¡¯s first three months) for everyone involved.

But still: The clock is starting to tick loudly on these Orioles. They still have a ton of young talent ¡ª more young talent, arguably, than any team in the Majors ¡ª but 2024 nonetheless felt like a regression. While there were plenty of positives (Gunnar Henderson and Colton Cowser, for example), a lot of those young players either struggled to adjust to the Majors (Jackson Holliday), took worrisome steps backward (Adley Rutschman) or were shipped out in trades (Joey Ortiz).

• Where do O's rank among AL East teams this offseason?

All of that wouldn¡¯t have been that big a deal, except the team almost entirely ran out of gas down the stretch and got itself swept out of the postseason for the second straight year. Since then, they lost the ace they brought in last season (Corbin Burnes) as well as a key cog in their lineup (Anthony Santander). The Orioles are still stacked with hitters. But those hitters are getting older, and more expensive, and the front office still hasn¡¯t added much to help them out.

The Orioles should be ascending right now. Instead, they appear to be hovering.

NL West: Giants

Three years of frustration after the 107-win season of 2021 culminated in the firing of Farhan Zaidi and the hiring of Giants legend Buster Posey to run baseball operations. The vibes may be a lot better in San Francisco ¡ª having a smiling certain Hall of Famer who is adored by the fanbase tends to help ¡ª but one can¡¯t help but wonder if the leash is going to be just as short for Posey as it was for Zaidi.

Posey seems to have much of the same issue getting superstars to take the Giants¡¯ money as Zaidi did, and the additions he has brought in, Willy Adames and Justin Verlander, seem more like supporting pieces at this point of their career than stars. The biggest problem is that the rest of this division has powered up: The Padres were the best team in the NL down the stretch, the Diamondbacks are excellent and added Burnes, and the Dodgers are, well, the Dodgers. Bringing in Posey adds an expectation that this team is going to try to win right now. But, well, look at this roster, and look at the rosters of those three division rivals. Does this look like a team that is going to win now?

NL Central: Cubs

The good news is that the Cubs traded for one year of Kyle Tucker. The bad news is that they¡¯re guaranteed only one year of Kyle Tucker. The new Cubs right fielder is instantly the best player this roster has featured since its World Series title in 2016, and with him comes heightened expectations right out of the gate.

The Cubs would seem to be the favorites in this division, but they are far from a lock. The frequently overperforming Brewers aren¡¯t going anywhere; the Reds are loaded with young talent and have a new World Series-winning manager in Terry Francona; the Pirates have Paul Skenes and an excellent rotation around him; even the Cardinals, as idle as they¡¯ve been this winter, are coming off a winning season.

If the Cubs don¡¯t win right now with Tucker on the roster ¡ª assuming they don¡¯t sign him to an extension before or during the season, something widely seen as unlikely ¡ª and go two straight years under manager Craig Counsell missing the postseason ¡­ well, what exactly are we doing here? The Cubs haven¡¯t won a postseason game since 2017, something that (quite understandably) perturbs their fans. They now have a superstar on the roster. They better do something with him while they can.

NL East: Phillies

Want to put the Mets here, because of all the money they spent on Juan Soto? How about the Braves, who were ravaged by injuries last year? If you feel so inclined, sure. But no team has gone more all-in than the Phillies. No team has more accomplished veterans desperately trying to win a World Series than the Phillies.

This team is jam-packed with aging stars who want to bring that championship trophy back to Philly, led of course by Bryce Harper, the two-time MVP and likely Hall of Famer who is missing only that one huge line from his resume. And yet, even as the Phillies have gotten better over the past three years (increasing their regular-season win total each time), they have gotten further away in the postseason (going from the World Series to the NLCS to the NLDS).

They will likely have no better shot at turning that trend around than they do this year. The 2025 Phillies have to play like there¡¯s no tomorrow.