The 2025 regular season is in the books. Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world in the final day before the playoffs:
1. Teams gear up for the postseason:
The 2025 playoff field is now set. The Reds squeaked into the NL’s final Wild Card spot over the Mets, while the Guardians’ late surge pushed Detroit out of the AL Central division title and the Astros out of the playoffs entirely. The Brewers, Phillies, Blue Jays, and Mariners get to enjoy a few days off to prepare for the start of the Division Series, but the rest of the playoff field now needs to focus on the Wild Card Series, which begins tomorrow. The Tigers, Padres, Red Sox, and Reds will need to travel to Cleveland, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles respectively. All eight teams will be weighing who exactly will make the final cut of their Wild Card roster.
2. Which teams will see leadership changes?
The end of a season brings with it the winds of change around baseball for many of the league’s losing teams. The Nationals have already settled on Red Sox executive Paul Toboni as their new president of baseball operations, and that’s likely just the first of several notable changes. Interim managers in Washington, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Colorado could have the “interim” tag removed from their titles or be shown the door, and there’s additional managerial uncertainty in places like Anaheim, San Francisco, and Atlanta. Meanwhile, Houston GM Dana Brown told reporters yesterday that a “full assessment” of the Astros organization will be taken after the team’s playoff miss this year, and other teams facing disappointing ends to their season will undergo similar evaluation periods.
3. End-of-season press conferences:
Traditionally, most organizations will have the head of baseball operations hold a press conference or otherwise make comments to the media following the conclusion of their team’s season. These media sessions typically include the president/GM reflecting on that year’s campaign, indicating where the organization might be headed in the future, and discussing in broad strokes their short-term plans for the coming offseason. These comments often offer valuable insight into the organization, particular in the cases of executives who don’t talk to the media very often or newly-appointed leadership figures. Most of the 18 clubs that missed the postseason will hold a press conference or offer some sort of comments in the coming days.
Source link
