What Will Be The Biggest MLB Storylines Of 2025?
Image credit: Shohei Ohtani (left) and Mookie Betts (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
In a series of MLB predictions and preview posts, BA’s editorial staff goes on record with their bold—and not so bold—thoughts about what’s to come in the 2025 season.
We begin with the question: What will be the biggest stories of the 2025 season?
Our prognosticators this year are Ben Badler, Jesús Cano, Mark Chiarelli, Carlos Collazo, J.J. Cooper, Matt Eddy, Josh Norris, Geoff Pontes and Dylan White.
Something We’re Not Talking About
Ben Badler: Every year we make these predictions and every year we’re typically wrong. The biggest story becomes the biggest story because it’s something we didn’t expect coming into the season.
Los Angeles Reigns Supreme
Mark Chiarelli: Everything runs through Southern California in 2025. The Dodgers were already the best team in baseball, then drew the ire of most every other fanbase by gobbling up free agents en masse and landing Roki Sasaki for pennies on the dollar. Not to mention Shohei Ohtani returns to the mound this year. Now everybody wins. Either the Dodgers will embark on one of baseball’s most memorable seasons in recent memories, or the rest of the sport giddily watches its new evil empire fall short. And while all that is going on, don’t lose sight of the neighboring Angels, where a return to health for Mike Trout could reignite trade deadline rumors for one of the sport’s stars.
Financial Disparity
Carlos Collazo: I could give a cop out answer like some (Ben!) but I’ll take a shot at it: my guess is we continue to hear all about the financial disparity in baseball as all eyes center on the Dodgers and their quest to go back-to-back. We’re already hearing rumblings about a brutal 2026 CBA negotiation and I’m sure owners will use every opportunity to cry poor and better position themselves for that as the league tries to figure out the future of TV deals, media rights and revenue sharing. Meanwhile the on-field product will remain excellent and a team not named the Dodgers will win the World series because baseball’s postseason is incredibly random.
Rays, A’s Play In Minor League Parks
Matt Eddy: The two teams with the most unsettled ballpark situations both venture forth without true home ballparks! The Rays lost access to Tropicana Field when Hurricane Milton blew the roof off, while the Athletics lost access to the Oakland Coliseum when their lease expired. Both teams will play all their home games in minor league ballparks this season—and likely beyond—with the Rays in Tampa and the A’s in Sacramento. Here’s hoping for a Rays-A’s ALCS, with all games to be played at a neutral site!
Josh Norris: The A’s playing in a Triple-A park on purpose is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen in this sport since I became a fan in 1995. The fact that it will continue for multiple years makes it unfathomable and deserving of all the negative press possible. No knock on Sacramento or its stadium, but the powers that be allowing the situation to get this far is indefensible.
Replay Challenges
Geoff Pontes: The challenge system. It’s being tested in spring training in 2025 and it will likely be implemented into regular season games as soon as 2026. Now that the public has seen it in action, every time an umpire blows a ball-strike call that costs a team a game, fans will be clamoring for the challenge system. Of all the recent rules changes and suggested changes, the challenge system is the one that I like the best. It adds a bit of strategy with a limited number of challenges available, and it helps us make sure that the right calls are made in pivotal moments. The full automatic ball-strike system is too disruptive to use full-time, making the challenge a perfect compromise and solution.
The Future Of Baseball On TV
J.J. Cooper: By the end of this year, we’ll have a lot more understanding of what the television/streaming picture for baseball will look like for 2027 and beyond. Baseball is more affected than most sports by the slow and steady demise of cable TV and regional sports networks. The recent decision by ESPN and MLB to exercise the opt-out on their contract puts pressure on Rob Manfred to find an equivalent-or-better deal for 2026 and beyond, while also convincing owners to pool their local broadcast rights for a bigger, more national deal.
