The Major League Baseball season is in full swing. There has been a ton of great action thus far. Plenty of things pop off the page as major surprises while others could be classified as extreme disappointments. Let’s dive into the 2025 MLB biggest surprises more than a month into season.
Big Acquisitions Actually Having Big Results
All too often, we see big free agent deals or major trades come with an extreme caution to the wind because of the past performances of these massive deals. So far this season, a couple of major deals seem to really be paying off. The three that immediately come to mind for me are Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker, and Max Fried. The Red Sox nabbed Bregman at the opening of Spring Training and he has delivered with a batting average over .320 and nine home runs already on the year as of this writing. Tucker is going to demand a massive contract this offseason and the Cubs could be happy to pay him with excellent defense and nearly 10 home runs already. And Fried has been a stud for the Yankees who needed a dependable starter after Gerrit Cole went down. He has a .91 WHIP and has his sights on a Cy Young.
The NL West
I am not going to classify this as a major surprise, but we have been treated to some incredible baseball in the National League West thus far and it’s a division that is making it clear that the wild card winners will hail from there. The LA Dodgers have a hold on first place and the best record in the bigs, but the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants would be a first-place team in just about any other division with more than 23 wins for both. The Giants have Buster Posey running things now and it’s paying off while the Padres are using their core and momentum from last season to charge ahead this time around.
Chicago Cubs
The Cubs were a dumpster fire last year and were one of the biggest disappointments in all of 2024, especially after manager Craig Counsell jumped ship and left Milwaukee to become the manager in the Windy City. Year two looks a lot better for him as the Cubs are in first place in the NL Central and they are winning games in spectacular ways. I would bet that it’ll become a tighter race at some point in the year, but the Cubs look strong thus far.
Seattle Mariners
For far too long, I have predicted that the Mariners would jump everyone in the AL West and make a dent in the playoffs. For far too long, I have been wrong about that prediction. Maybe this is the year as the Mariners are currently in first place in the AL West, they are pitching great, they have overcome some major injuries, and they have one of the hottest hitters in the league who they just locked up long-term in Cal Raleigh.