Category: Baseball

Yesterday, I looked at the free agents who might fit the Giants’ lineup and last week I examined the free agent and trade markets for starting pitchers. Today, a far more respected entity, MLB Trade Rumors, offers up a list of potential trade targets for all the teams, pitchers and hitters alike. Right now, the San Francisco Giants have, for the first time in a long time, one of the best farm systems in Major League Baseball. Does that make it the right time to trade prospects for major league upgrades? Let’s evaluate the list and find out.

The Giants are suggested for five players: 3 hitters, 2 pitchers. The hitters are outfielders and the pitchers are starters. So far, MLB Trade Rumors is on the right track. Yesterday, I noted that the hitting group was pretty thin in the outfield, and that any notable move was likely to make the acquisition the best of the bunch. And, even if we all agree that the entire pitching staff needs to be reworked, grabbing a starting pitcher or two should be the first order of business in that process.

But of this group, only 2 players would be under team control beyond 2027. That’s important because the Giants aren’t one big trade away from being a playoff team, nor should they approach this offseason that way. If they’re going to expend prospect capital — or even somebody from their major league roster (MLBTR offers up four potential trade candidates from the Giants) — it ought to be somebody who will be around for at least a couple of years. There’s no compelling reason to do otherwise.

You’ve probably noticed by now that I haven’t named any of the players mentioned. I didn’t want to cannibalize their work for a post so fresh — although, it’s notable that they listed CJ Abrams as a trade candidate but did not include the Giants as a potentially interested team, even though they tried to trade for him last offseason. But beyond preserving some first 24 hour clicks for MLBTR, I don’t think the names are as important as the idea. Should the Giants trade prospects or major league talent to acquire major league talent that’s nearing the end of team control? The answer has to be no.

But MLB Trade Rumors’ article does list a Giant. Their rankings try to balance value and likelihood of a deal, and for those reasons, they’ve got Rafael Devers at #19. Now, the Giants made Devers available as recently as three months ago, so this isn’t outlandish. Just yesterday, I celebrated Devers’ season for how it flipped the narrative about him and demonstrated that he’s just a hitter who hits no matter where he is. Their reasoning is fine:

The Giants wouldn’t get much of a prospect return, but this might be their best chance to unload one of their long-term contracts and clear payroll room to spend on pitching or outfield help. 

If the money is equal, let’s say, then of the Adames-Chapman-Devers trio he’s the easiest to move. He’s the youngest, the best hitter of the bunch, and plays a position with a more predictable age/decline curve and one that points to a solid performance tale over the length of the contract. But there’s a massive however: in order to make the money equal, the Giants would have to get Adames ($155.7 million) and Devers ($211 million) at least down to what Chapman’s still owed ($100.67 million). MLBTR is in the range of $30-46 million in buydown.

But trading Devers for salary relief is a bad reason to trade Rafael Devers. And at the end of the day, whatever money that will be spent on free agency is likely to go towards paying a premium on players a great farm system could produce for far less of a cost or who will simply be adequate rather than significant improvements. They’re better off trading young hitters for young pitchers… but those are the trades with the highest difficulty.

Maybe the Giants have turned the corner in their player acquisition and development pipeline or maybe they just have a good crop. That’s what time will tell. What is an absolute certainty right now is that the major league roster needs a lot of improvement. So, rather than try to execute the most difficult kind of trade or try to clear massive salaries off the books, why not do the easiest thing and simply add payroll?

The Giants spent an estimated $189.76 million on their major league roster in 2026. They’re currently projected to be around $173.93 million to start next season, about a $15 million difference. They can double that without any trades just by getting out from Harrison Bader’s $13 million (easier said than done, sure, but they’re working on it) and non-tendering a couple of their arbitration guys. Committing to a payroll of $210 million, let’s say, gives them about $52 million to work with. That seems like a perfectly fine amount for a team that’s kicking off a whole new rebuild while not trying to tank. By the way, that’d be more in 1-year spending than the team committed in 2025 ($36 million) and 2026 ($44.95 million).

The final thought in all this is that the second-best use case with a farm system is being able to leverage it to acquire players in trades. They have an “excess” of middle infielders to offer and some intriguing upside pitching prospects, too, but the Giants haven’t had a farm system that just makes their team better in such a long time that it stands to reason letting it play out for that purpose is the best move right now.

The Milwaukee Brewers are now your new World Series champions. The retrospectives are already here, as Andy McCullough of The Athletic has an article out today tracing their path to the franchise’s first World Series title. One note is particularly interesting for Tigers fans. According to this report, the Brewers made a very competitive offer for Tarik Skubal at the trade deadline, and the Tigers had accepted it in principle. The Brewers front office thought they might have a deal done, only to watch as Zyhir Hope was pulled from his Double-A game and a deal between the Tigers and Dodgers was announced instead.

Well, kudos to the Brewers, who clearly didn’t need much help. The reported deal was for two top 100 position players in infielder Luis Pena and utility player Jett Williams, along with outfielder Josh Adamczewski. The Tigers wanted pitching, but the Brewers were unwilling to part with rookie left-hander Logan Henderson in a deal. So the offer was the best offer they were going to make when Scott Harris called to ask for their best package before moving to the Dodgers to get their final offer. Not long after, they noted the Hope news, and Harris called back to tell them he was going with a different offer.

Per McCullough,

“I appreciated the s— out of that,” Arnold said. “He was very transparent.” The timing allowed Milwaukee to pivot and trade for St. Louis reliever JoJo Romero and starter Dustin May. But they did not add an ace.

Instead, the Tigers accepted the deal for Zyhir Hope, who is similarly ranked to Williams, along with injured right-hander River Ryan and High-A pitching prospect Brady Smith. Smith and Adamczewski are pretty comparable, thought the latter is graded a notch higher by some prospect sites.

I’m a big fan of Luis Pena, so this pains me a little bit, but at the same time, the Brewers had to know the Tigers were hunting for pitching with both Skubal and Casey Mize headed to free agency. Someday this may be a very interesting what if, as the Brewers package was the stronger offer on paper. It just didn’t address the Tigers main need, which was pitching to fill the gap until their stock of A-ball level pitching prospects develops further. It really all comes down to Ryan, and whether he can finally put the injuries behind him and reach his potential as a frontline starter or potential ace reliever.

It’s an interesting little study in approach as well. Harris asked for the final best offers and picked the best package from his perspective. It’s tricky balancing need vs. overall value in all sports, but particularly in baseball. Maybe if Harris had acquired both Pena and Williams, he could turn entirely to pitching in free agency with a killer group of position prospects on their way to bolster what they already have in Kevin McGonigle, Max Clark, and others. But adding pitching in free agency has not been a front office strength. As far as potentially trading Williams or someone else for cost-controlled pitching later on, the truth is that acquiring arm talent with significant team control is really difficult. No one wants to give up inexpensive pitching, even for a good position player generally ranked in the middle of many top 100 lists. Certainly not during the offseason.

We’ll see how it all shakes out in the long run, but it was interesting to get a bit more of a blow-by-blow of events than has been previously reported. Good to know Harris didn’t just string anyone along and potentially leave the Brewers scrambling in the final minutes. That’s the kind of thing that can really put other teams off from dealing with you again, but it’s certainly not mandatory to inform a team that their trade isn’t accepted. They sometimes don’t find out until a deal is already complete.

The report is a bit of housekeeping from a Tigers fans perspective, but we’ll take it as closure on the 2026 Skubal saga. Let the offseason begin.

The Milwaukee Brewers dispatched the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night, their 4-1 victory in Game 5 of the World Series giving them their first title in franchise history. Up there in baseball Valhalla, Bob Uecker had the night of his afterlife.

That puts a wrap on the 2026 Major League Baseball season as a whole, meaning the Cincinnati Reds can once again peel themselves off the couch and begin preparations for a 2027 season that, mercifully, cannot possibly be as disappointing as the one that just ended. Baseball wastes little time in sprinting into administrative season, and that began this morning at 9 AM ET when players eligible for free agency were allowed to file.

That includes the likes of Tyler Stephenson of Brock Burke, two names in particular who need a spotlight right here. Though both could have filed for free agency as early as this morning, there’s a five-day window where their former team will be the lone club that can negotiate with them, and since both sure do look like players the Reds would like to have back in 2027 (and beyond), that means the two sides have five days to figure out what a contract would need to look like going forward for that to work. I don’t expect either to sign during this window, but at least there’s a little bit of a heads-up that the Reds will get prior to both getting the opportunity to talk to all 30 clubs beginning next week.

The end of that five-day window will also be the final chance for teams to issue a Qualifying Offer to any of their free agents who were not acquired mid-season. At one point in time that seemed like a discussion the Reds front office was having surrounding Brady Singer, though that has (thank the lord) gone silent amid his season-ending slump. That also marks the day where option decisions must be made, so by then we’ll know if Emilio Pagan has opted into his $10 million salary to remain with the Reds in 2027 or decided to test the free agent waters again. We’ll also have a resolution on the mutual option between the Reds and Eugenio Suarez, though those almost never get picked up by both sides anyway. It’s also the deadline to put players back on the roster from the 60-day IL, so there could be some DFA shuffling (or minor trades) to accommodate the likes of Hunter Greene and Spencer Steer needing 40-man spots once again.

November 1st will see the Gold Glove Awards given out to star defenders across the league. The Reds have no star defenders in the eyes of the powers that be, though – at least, not this year.

November 2nd will see Silver Slugger Award finalists announced, and here’s where we may see the sport’s spotlight swing back to Elly De La Cruz. The 2nd will also see the finalists for all the major BBWAA awards announced, of which Sal Stewart will surely be included in NL Rookie of the Year voting.

November 9th will be the day the Reds find out if Sal won the NL RoY, or not. While the honor itself is a glorious one, keep in mind that the Reds would be in line to get an extra draft pick at the end of the 1st round in 2027 if Sal takes home the prize – and the draft bonus pool boost that goes along with that.

November 9-12 will feature the GM meetings in Las Vegas, ones that will surely be interesting this season given the looming lockout that will be just three weeks later.

November 11th will be the day both the NL and AL Cy Young Award winners will be announced. Chase Burns won’t win the NL award this season despite being firmly in the mix for most of the year, but he’s going to end up with some down-ballot votes.

November 12th is the day the MVPs are announced in both leagues. Elly’s not going to win in the NL this year, but there’s a realistic chance he finishes within the Top 3.

November 16th is the date we’ll see who the BBWAA has included on their ballot for induction in the Hall of Fame, at which point in time social media will become a giant argument over who is worthy of a plaque in the hallway of an old building in an obscure and hard to reach town in upstate New York.

November 17th is the day Silver Slugger Awards are actually announced. It’s also the deadline day for players to accept QOs, if they’d received them. It is also-also the day teams must add players to the 40-man roster to protect them from potential selection in the Rule 5 Draft, which is typically held during the Winter Meetings in December…

…however, the Winter Meetings are currently scheduled for December 7-9th, and that’s after the current Collective Bargaining Agreement is set to expire on December 1st, and there’s zero indication whatsoever that the MLBPA and MLB itself will come to an agreement before that date to postpone an inevitable lockout.

There’s a lot that typically goes on between December 1st and the start of spring training in mid-February, but the dates when those events will occur (or be cancelled) are pretty meaningless at this juncture. Baseball will have to see the arbitration process dealt with in short order at some point, the Draft Lottery to determine the order for next June’s draft will need to take place, and who signs who will all have to fight what figures to be a long, dark transaction freeze until the two sides can figure out how to properly distribute their billions of dollars. It remains to be seen whether teams will make moves in a fury before the expiration date of the current CBA, or if they’ll roll the dice on getting lucky with what’s left after the fact.

It has been well established at this point that the Nationals did not have a good bullpen. They set the record for blown saves and had a rotating cast of characters all season long. Of that group, Orlando Ribalta and Brad Lord were the most reliable. Neither were lights out, but both of them posted sub-4 ERA’s and logged at least 40 appearances.

Ribalta and Lord are unlikely to be star relievers, but they are the type of arms you need to fill out a bullpen. The Nats are trying to build a bullpen filled with unique arms, and these two are an example of that. Despite both being right handed relievers, they have very different pitching styles and roles.

At 6’7 245 pounds, Ribalta is a towering presence on the mound and comes at hitters with an over the top delivery. His 97 MPH 4-seam fastball has a good combination of velocity and ride. Ribalta’s secondary pitches include a slider he often uses to get ahead of hitters and a fluttering changeup to put guys away.

Ribalta’s calm mound presence allowed him to come through in some big spots for the Nats. He played a role in some of the Nats meltdowns, but most of the time, Ribalta was not the one causing the fire. In fact, he was the one putting them out. Ribalta had a knack for getting out of bases loaded situations, and he earned the trust of Blake Butera.

MLB hitters are now 0-11 vs Orlando Ribalta this year with the bases loaded.

— Optimistic DC Sports Fan (AC12 Ring Before Harper) (@JWoodGlazer29) July 25, 2026

Overall, Ribalta had a nice breakthrough season, but there is still room for growth. The 28 year old posted a 3.77 ERA and a 3.91 FIP with 42 strikeouts in 43 innings. His 84.6 MPH average exit velocity against and 36.7% chase rate were both elite metrics. However, his strikeout rate of 23.6% and walk rate of 10.1% are both pretty average for a reliever. Right now, Ribalta is a solid 7th inning guy, but if the strikeouts start matching his stuff, the ceiling is higher.

While Ribalta was a high leverage arm, Brad Lord was in a different role. Lord is your classic multi-inning reliever, a role that is becoming more common across the league. With starters not pitching as deep into games, teams need to get creative with how they use their pitchers.

Most of the time, Lord pitched about 2 or 3 innings in his appearances. In his 40 outings this season, Lord threw 83.1 innings. Until about late June, Lord was an absolute weapon in that role. However, he hit a wall after blowing a game against the Phillies in devastating fashion. Lord had a blow up outing against the Pirates shortly after that, and then he went on the IL.

However, Lord had a rock solid finish to the season. After August 1st, Lord had a 3.55 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 25.1 innings. He is not the flashiest reliever in the world, but he is very helpful and can eat innings effectively. Lord was the only Nats reliever who was on the team from start to finish.

Barring an unforeseen development, the Nationals’ Opening Day bullpen will be:

Clayton Beeter
Cole Henry
Brad Lord
Cionel Pérez (L)
Andre Granillo
PJ Poulin (L)
Gus Varland
Ken Waldichuk (L)

— Spencer Nusbaum (@spencernusbaum_) March 23, 2026

We saw this season that Lord is not someone you really want to turn to in save situations. However, he can be a nice piece in a good bullpen. His profile reminds me a lot of Chad Patrick in Milwaukee, who logged 106 innings this year, mostly in a bullpen role.

From a pitch mix standpoint, Lord relies heavily on his 4-seam fastball and sinker. Both pitches have a lot of movement thanks to his sling shot release. His low release point and funky mechanics make him a tricky at bat. Lord is great at doing the dirty work in the bullpen.

Neither Lord nor Ribalta should be your best relievers, but that says more about the state of the rest of the Nats bullpen. Both are useful pieces who should play a role for years to come. Now the priority should be to acquire truly elite arms so those two can pitch in the proper role.

I actually think the Nats have a decent amount of interesting bullpen arms. The depth is in a much better spot than it was a year ago. However, they need to find a true anchor in the back end to tie everything together. If they do that, we will also see the best of guys like Lord and Ribalta.

Welcome to the 2026 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time for the Rockies in 2026. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the lowest rWAR and end up with the player with the highest.

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No. 32, Zach Agnos (0.1 rWAR)

No Rockies pitcher had a more unusual collection of assignments in 2026 than Zach Agnos.

He made three starts, earned two saves, regularly worked multiple innings out of the bullpen and pitched in just about every game situation imaginable. By season’s end, he’d logged 91 innings, nearly 39 more than his previous professional high.

He also finished with a 5.93 ERA.

Agnos was more useful than good, but there were stretches of effective pitching and some encouraging developments in his arsenal that suggest he might have more to offer.

2026 statistics

G (GS)	W-L	IP	ERA	FIP	WHIP	K	BB	SV	rWAR
41 (3)	0-2	91.0	5.93	4.57	1.51	58	35	2	0.1

Source: Baseball Reference.

A little bit of everything

Agnos entered 26 of his 38 relief appearances with Colorado trailing, including 13 when the Rockies were behind by at least four runs. For a team that lost 104 games, pitching from behind was hardly unusual.

The Rockies generally weren’t asking him to escape inherited jams, either. He began 31 of his relief appearances with a clean inning and was often left to cover two or three.

There were opportunities to finish victories, too. On April 8 against Houston, Agnos worked 3.1 innings to earn his first save of the season. He added another on April 26 against the Mets.

On May 21 against Arizona, Agnos made his first start since high school.

He retired the first six Diamondbacks he faced. He ran into trouble in the third, walking Adrian Del Castillo and allowing a single to Ketel Marte, but got Corbin Carroll to line out to center to end the inning.

He then retired all six hitters he faced in the fourth and fifth, finishing with five scoreless innings, one hit, one walk and four strikeouts.

Colorado lost 2-1, but Agnos had done his part.

Five days later, he allowed seven earned runs in two innings against the Dodgers, including a home run by Mookie Betts.

Five days after that, the Giants scored seven earned runs against him in one inning.

Fourteen earned runs in three innings, immediately following five scoreless innings against Arizona.

Two months of genuinely good pitching

In July and August, Agnos allowed just six earned runs over 27.1 innings, posting a 1.98 ERA. He walked four batters, struck out 17 and continued working primarily in multi-inning appearances.

All six earned runs came in two appearances.

On July 22 against Washington, Agnos entered with two outs in the seventh and the Rockies trailing 5-0. He allowed three consecutive singles and two earned runs before recording the third out. He stayed in the game long enough to cover 2.1 innings, allowing seven hits and three total runs.

On August 21 against Cleveland, Patrick Bailey hit a three-run homer off Agnos, who eventually allowed four earned runs in 2.1 innings.

Those were the only two appearances in July and August in which Agnos allowed an earned run.

Every other outing was scoreless.

On July 6 against the Dodgers, he threw three scoreless innings, allowing one hit. On August 5 against Tampa Bay, he worked two hitless innings.

For two months, Agnos wasn’t just effective. He was excellent. But that performance was a dramatic departure from his struggles earlier in the season, and he couldn’t sustain it through September.

The difference between those three stretches is striking:

Period	IP	ERA	BB	K
May – June	34.0	8.21	15	19
July – August	27.1	1.98	4	17
September	12.1	8.76	8	6

Source: Baseball Reference.

Agnos allowed multiple earned runs in each of his final five appearances.

It’s fair to wonder whether the workload caught up with him. His 91 innings were well beyond the 52.1 he’d previously thrown in a professional season. His velocity was also down across all six pitches in his final appearance on September 22, although it had remained largely normal earlier in the month.

Something different in the arsenal

Agnos didn’t just take on different assignments in 2026. He also changed what he was throwing.

After relying on four pitches in 2025, Agnos added a slider and sinker to his repertoire. The slider was particularly interesting against left-handed hitters, producing a positive five-run value. Overall, opponents hit just .161 against it.

Agnos threw his splitter less frequently than he had in 2025, but opponents hit just .194 against it in 2026. It also generated a 41.9% whiff rate, easily the highest of his six pitches.

His sweeper also showed promise, holding opponents to a .220 average while generating a 34.6% whiff rate.

The results weren’t nearly as encouraging across his entire arsenal. Baseball Savant’s run value data highlights some significant differences depending on which side of the plate hitters stood:

Pitch	vs. LHH	vs. RHH
Four-seam fastball	-2	-8
Cutter	-6	+2
Sweeper	-1	+2
Sinker	-2	0
Slider	+5	-3
Splitter	0	-1

2026 pitch run value by batter handedness. Positive values favor the pitcher; negative values favor the hitter. Source: Baseball Savant.

Agnos threw his four-seam fastball and cutter more than any other offerings, accounting for nearly half his pitches. Opponents hit .306 against the four-seamer and .359 against the cutter.

Agnos struck out just 14.3% of opposing hitters, placing him in the second percentile among major-league pitchers. He did lower his walk rate from 12.3% in 2025 to 8.6% in 2026, while also improving his hard-hit and barrel rates.

The individual results from his secondary pitches suggest Agnos has something to work with. The challenge is finding a way to turn those pitches into more strikeouts and better overall results, particularly when his most frequently used offerings have been so hittable.

Where does Agnos stand heading into 2027?

Agnos made three starts, posting a 1.69 ERA over 10.2 innings, compared to a 6.50 ERA in 80.1 innings as a reliever. That’s a considerable difference, although three starts are not enough to establish him as a rotation candidate. His more likely role remains that of a multi-inning reliever, something the Rockies leaned on him heavily for in 2026.

But he’s hardly the only pitcher capable of filling that role. Colorado has other young pitchers who could benefit from those opportunities, and as the organization works to improve its pitching staff, there should be more competition for those innings.

At 26, Agnos is still under team control and won’t be arbitration-eligible until 2028. He also has minor-league options remaining, giving Colorado some flexibility to keep him around without committing to a permanent spot in the major-league bullpen.

That works in his favor, but only to a point. His versatility helped him accumulate 91 innings in 2026, but a 5.93 ERA isn’t going to do much to protect his opportunities as better pitching becomes available.

Whether Agnos can turn the promise of his secondary pitches into more consistent results may determine how much longer that versatility remains valuable to Colorado.

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The World Series is over. The Brewers are the champions of the 2026 season. Now that that’s settled, the baseball offseason calendar takes over. The month of November is more important than usual this year with the expected coming lockout, which will freeze roster movement until a labor agreement is reached.

What’s happened so far

Free agency begins

At 9am on the day after the World Series ends, players who are free agents after the season officially become free agents. Their current teams have an exclusive negotiating window for five days.

These are the Orioles free agents: Keegan Akin, Chris Bassitt, Andrew Kittredge, Trevor Rogers

Still to come

November1

Gold Glove award winners announced (already known there will be no Orioles winners)

November 2

Deadline to decide on team and player contract options

Orioles players with options: Zach Eflin (mutual), Luis Robert Jr. (team), Ryan Mountcastle (team), Ryan Helsley (player – already exercised)

Deadline to extend qualifying offers to free agents

Orioles likely to receive one: Trevor Rogers

60-day injured list players return to 40-man roster

Orioles who must return to roster: Kyle Bradish, Ryan Helsley, Colin Selby, Jordan Westburg, Tyler O’Neill

Free agency opens – any team can sign any player starting at 5pm

Contemporary Baseball Era HOF ballot (players, managers, executives) announced

Silver Slugger top 3 finishers announced

BBWAA award (MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year) top 3 finishers announced

November 9-12

General manager meetings (Las Vegas)

BBWAA awards announced (nightly in this order: ROY, Manager of the Year, Cy Young, MVP)

November 16

Hall of Fame 2027 BBWAA ballot announced

November 17

Deadline for players to accept or decline Qualifying Offer at 4pm Eastern

Deadline for Rule 5 Draft-eligible players to be placed on 40-man roster

Orioles to think about include: Creed Willems, Aron Estrada, Enrique Bradfield Jr., Michael Forret, Nestor German, Braxton Bragg, Patrick Reilly

November 20

Deadline for “non-tender” – where arbitration-eligible players are released instead of being offered a 2027 contract

December 1

Owner lockout of players likely to begin when Collective Bargaining Agreement begins at 11:59pm

December 6

Contemporary Baseball Era inductees announced, if any

December 7-9

MLB Winter Meetings (San Diego), specific scheduled events including draft lottery and Rule 5 draft likely to be postponed or cancelled due to lockout

January 8, 2027

Deadline for arbitration-eligible players to settle on 2027 contracts or exchange salary figures for a hearing (postponed if lockout ongoing)

January 15, 2027

International amateur signing period opens

January 19, 2027

BBWAA Hall of Fame Class of 2027 results announced

Mid-February, 2027

Spring training begins (major league portion postponed if lockout goes long enough)

March 25, 2027

Orioles Opening Day at Tampa Bay Rays (likely postponed if lockout goes long enough)

The hangovers and deliriousness from the Brewers’ first World Series title haven’t even subsided and other teams are ready to poach.

The Astros are targeting Milwaukee assistant general manager Matt Kleine to fill their vacant general manager opening, according to The Athletic.

He previously worked for the Astros before joining Milwaukee in 2007.

Kleine, who was 40 entering the season, has been with the Brewers for 20 seasons and earned a promotion to his current role on Nov. 1, 2023.

He worked his way up from associate scout and has held various roles during his two-decade tenure.

The team’s media guide states his current role focused on roster construction, transactions, finances, procedural compliance and overseeing salary arbitration, among other duties.

Kleine worked alongside general manager Matt Arnold and former Brewers general manager and current top Mets baseball executive David Stearns to build an NL power despite spending far less than other teams, particularly the Dodgers, who they swept in the NLCS this year.

The ability to build a strong team without an elite payroll could matter in Houston since owner Jim Crane is known for drawling lines when it comes to long-term extensions.

The Athletic reported that Kleine emerged as the favorite earlier this month from a field that also included White Sox assistant general manager Josh Barfield, former Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo and former Phillies general manager Matt Klentak.

Kleine also appeared alongside Crane at the Houston Sports Fall of Fame event earlier this month.

Houston previously split with former general manager Dana Brown during the season, and then also moved on from manager Joe Espada.

Moving fast to hire a new top decision-maker is of the utmost importance considering the potential Dec. 1 lockout and that the person chosen will have to help land a new manager.

Should Kleine land the role, he’ll inherit a team that won the AL West with an 81-81 record but has not won a playoff game since 2023 and features an aging roster.

While Yordan Alvarez is a star, Jose Altuve is only getting older, questions linger about Carlos Correa and Jeremy Pena has one year left on his contract before entering free agency.

The offseason is officially here and considering that there might be a mad dash for teams to get a lot of their business done before the (what feels like an) inevitable lockout starts on December 2. As such, the trade rumors are going to be hot and heavy and while this is less of a trade rumor and more of a “it would make sense if it happened” type deal, it’s still something to discuss as the offseason gets underway.

MLB Trade Rumors has released their Top 40 Trade Candidates for the upcoming offseason and while Atlanta didn’t have any players who made it into the Top 40, they were still linked with a handful of players when it came to potential trade options.

One position that needs to be addressed is shortstop. The Braves had hoped that this would’ve been solved with Ha-Seong Kim having a successful season and giving them a reason to keep the relationship going but, um, that absolutely did not happen so the Braves are going back to the drawing board. They could bring back Mauricio Dubón to help out with their shortstop situation as they try to find a bridge to the future but again, Dubón’s defense would be better off deployed in the outfield and as a super utility guy instead of being stuck at one position (which probably isn’t his best position defensively). So I’d imagine that the Braves are probably going to figure out a way to solve that problem going forward.

The Braves were linked with two shortstops in this piece: Otto Lopez of the Marlins and Jeremy Peña of the Astros. I’m going to go right ahead and pour cold water on any idea of the Marlins trading within the division and especially to the Braves. Jeremy Peña seems like a more intriguing option, though. Here’s more from MLBTR on Peña:

Given his excellence, it’s fair to ask why the Astros would consider trading him at all. They’re not entering any sort of rebuild, after all. However, this is the exact same situation the Astros encountered with Kyle Tucker. Peña, like his former right field teammate was in the 2024-25 offseason, is an All-Star with Gold Glove defensive talent and high-end offensive contributions. Both are represented by agencies that rarely consider extensions for star players, however — Excel Sports Management for Tucker and the Boras Corporation for Peña.

The Braves are a perfect match on paper, but the Blue Jays, Red Sox, Tigers, Phillies and Rays all make varying degrees of sense. Even teams with a set option at shortstop could consider jumping into the fray, as Peña is one of the most talented players in the game at his position. A deal isn’t a slam-dunk, but teams will try and the Astros will likely hear them out.

Needless to say, Peña would solve a lot of problems for the Braves at their shortstop position. It’s also safe to assume that any trade for Peña would require a hefty return since the Astros still have team control and they’re not exactly in “rebuild” mode at the moment. Still, if the Braves do end up getting involved then I’d imagine that would mean that the price would be worth it to potentially have peace of mind at the shortstop position with a chance to give him a contract extension down the road.

Atlanta was also linked to Jo Adell and MacKenzie Gore in this article as well, so if you want to get a closer look at where the rumor mill may be heading during this offseason, I highly recommend checking out the article.

Typically, the end of the World Series leads almost immediately to offseason projections about which team needs what and what free agent will sign where. And there’s always — or just about — the knowledge that in a certain number of days, pitchers and catchers will report to spring training.

But for the second time in five years, there is an unknown about when spring — and the regular season — will arrive in 2027, as a lockout is expected to begin when the current collective bargaining agreement expires at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 1.

The main point of contention — as it was in 1994 when the players struck and the World Series was canceled — is the owners’ desire to implement a salary cap and the union’s insistence in avoiding it, even with a salary floor.

The last time there was a lockout there was no shortage of activity before the shutdown and plenty more when the two sides came to an agreement in March.

How do things look this time around?

How long will the lockout last?

There are some people in the industry who believe there’s still a chance for 162 games to be played next season. There are others who insist the possibility exists of the entire season being lost.

What’s clear so far is the proposals being made by both sides so far have been met with incredulity from the other.

That’s not a surprise, since this battle has been brewing for years and the lockout — which is meant to spur negotiations — is still over a month away.

During the last shutdown, though, talks between the two didn’t really gain any traction until February and the deal struck in March resulted in the start of spring training being pushed back and shortened, but no regular-season games were missed despite the delay of Opening Day.

Will there be a flurry of moves or will teams wait until the dust settles?

That will be the most interesting part of the next few weeks, as front offices and ownership groups decide whether to spend on free agency or whether the possibility of a salary cap on the other side of the work stoppage will scare them off given the unknown landscape in the future.

Back in the early winter of 2021, when the MLBPA and the owners already didn’t agree on the salary structure of the time — but not to the extent that’s true now — a handful of teams still spent freely.

In November of that year, for example, Max Scherzer, Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, Robbie Ray, Kevin Gausman and Javier Baez all signed nine-figure deals.

This year’s free agent crop — even before the threat of a lockout — is not as strong as that one, with Tarik Skubal the top player available. The lefty, who is represented by Scott Boras, will have to decide if he should take the best offer available prior to the lockout or wait until it’s over and risk the arrival of a cap.

There figures to be a mechanism in place to give teams time to get under the cap due to contracts that are already on the books.

Former Yankee Michael King and ex-Met Freddy Peralta are two other high-profile pitchers about to hit the open market, with Randy Arozarena perhaps the best position player available.

Teruaki Sato, a third baseman with the Hanshin Tigers in Japan, will be posted even with the lockout coming.

Free agents are eligible to sign with new teams five days after the World Series ends and how it unfolds is anyone’s guess.

What’s on the schedule before the shutdown?

The general manager meetings will begin Nov. 9 in Las Vegas. Normally, this is the unofficial start of the offseason and a prelude to more work getting done in December at the Winter Meetings.

But since there is almost no chance of the Winter Meetings happening- as all transactions involving 40-man players are prohibited during a work stoppage, there could be more urgency to get things done in Vegas.

What else is on the table for the new CBA?

The stoppage comes down to the owners’ side saying competitive balance needs to be addressed, with the union countering with the belief the cap would primarily lead to an increase in franchise value, but there are other matters that will be discussed.

Among them: roster size, a free agency window, length of regular-season schedule as well as adjustments to the postseason schedule.

So far, there’s been little to no common ground.

The re-signing of Caleb Thielbar by Jed Hoyer for 2026 is a perfect example of recency bias.

Thielbar had a very good year for the Cubs in 2025, in some ways the best year of his career. He posted a 2.64 ERA and 0.879 WHIP in 67 games covering 58 innings, and allowed just five home runs. He was a key part of a very good bullpen that helped the Cubs get to the division series round against the Brewers.

But Thielbar had produced a poor year in 2024 with the Twins, who were more than happy to let him go at age 37. So he has a miraculously good year at age 38, and that prompted Hoyer to offer Thielbar a $4 million deal with a $6 million mutual option for 2027 (or a $500,000 buyout).

At age 39 and with that history, it seemed quite likely that Thielbar would regress in 2026, and that’s exactly what happened. He wasn’t doing too badly until April 23, when he allowed a home run to the Phillies’ Adolis Garcia and then left the game during the next at-bat with an injury [VIDEO].

The hamstring injury kept him out about four weeks, and he wasn’t very effective after that. The long ball was a problem for Thielbar in 2026; he allowed 11 of them in 50 innings, more than double his home run rate from the previous year (or indeed, from any previous season in his career). Again, at age 39 and with an injury that probably rehabbed more slowly than it would when he was younger, this might have been predicted.

The Cubs should have just thanked Thielbar for his good 2025 and tried someone else. That was $4 million wasted. Under no circumstances should they exercise the mutual option. Pay him the buyout and let him walk. His career is probably over.

With the Milwaukee Brewers’ 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, MLB crowned a first-time champion on Oct. 28.

It’s the fourth time since 2017 that a first-time team won the World Series.

Before 2017, the World Series went 14 seasons without crowning a newcomer as champ, the longest drought among North America’s four major men’s professional leagues since 2000.

The NFL is currently experiencing the longest drought, having gone 12 seasons since the Seattle Seahawks won their first Super Bowl in 2014 (the Philadelphia Eagles won their first Super Bowl in 2018, but had won three NFL championships before that).

The NHL is on a similar trend to MLB by crowning first-time champions; since 2018, four newcomers have won the Stanley Cup. Those champs are the Washington Capitals, the St. Louis Blues, the Vegas Golden Knights and the Florida Panthers.

The NBA has had two first-time champions since 2017: the Toronto Raptors and the Denver Nuggets.

How long did Milwaukee wait to win the World Series?

Counting the franchise's inaugural season as the Seattle Pilots and this year's title run, the Brewers took 58 seasons to win the World Series.

The franchise had been to the World Series once before – losing in seven games to St. Louis in 1982 – but had to hold out for the second-longest wait among expansion teams to win it. The Texas Rangers, who took 63 seasons to win it all in 2023, had the longest wait.

The Brewers, Rangers, Houston Astros and Washington Nationals are the only four expansion franchises that have taken over half a century to win the Fall Classic.

The shortest span from expansion to title was the Arizona Diamondbacks, who won the World Series in 2001 after their inaugural season in 1998. The then-Florida Marlins also won quickly, taking the 1997 title in their fifth season.

There is also a wrinkle to the Brewers' first-time claim. While it's the first World Series title in franchise history, the city of Milwaukee has won the Fall Classic once before: the Milwaukee Braves (now Atlanta) won the 1957 crown in seven games over the New York Yankees.

For non-expansion franchises, the longest wait from founding to title belongs to the Philadelphia Phillies, who won their first World Series in 1980, their 98th season. That count includes 20 seasons before the inaugural World Series in 1903.

Their 1980 opponent, the Kansas City Royals, was also title-less, making it the first World Series since 1920 in which neither team had won before. It didn't happen again until this year's Brewers-Rays matchup.

MLB teams that have never won the World Series

With Milwaukee off the board, there are now just four ballclubs without a World Series title: the San Diego Padres, the Seattle Mariners, the Colorado Rockies and the Rays.

Notably, the Padres joined the major leagues with the now-Milwaukee franchise in 1969. If San Diego's drought stretches to 2031, it would match the Rangers' 63-season wait.

Had Tampa Bay won this year, it would’ve ended a 29-season wait for the franchise founded in 1998. The Rays have now lost three World Series, having done so previously in 2008 and 2020.

Of those four teams, only the Mariners have never reached the World Series. The Padres did so twice, in 1984 and 1998, while the Rockies did so in 2007.

Among the teams without a World Series ring, Tampa Bay had the best regular season in 2026 with a 98-64 record. San Diego, however, wasn’t far behind at 91-71.

Seattle and Colorado both finished 2026 with losing records.

Methodology: USA TODAY compared first-time champions using lists from MLB, NBA, NHL and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. For details on franchise expansion waits to win the World Series and current droughts, franchise pages on Baseball-Reference were used.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brewers win first World Series, ending 58-season wait. Who's left?

The White Sox are looking north for their next scouting leader.

Chicago is expected to hire Milwaukee Brewers assistant director of domestic scouting Matt Roffe to oversee its domestic draft operations, according to several league sources. The team has not formally announced the move, and Roffe’s specific title remains undetermined. He would fill the opening created by Mike Shirley’s resignation in September.

The move also continues an encouraging trend under general manager Chris Getz: looking outside the organization for fresh ideas and leadership. Roffe would arrive from the newly crowned World Series champion Brewers, whose ability to identify and develop talent has helped them succeed without a hefty payroll. That makes Milwaukee a sensible place for the White Sox to look as they work to build sustained success of their own.

An executive’s résumé doesn’t guarantee that his former organization’s success will follow him to Chicago. Still, bringing in someone who has worked within Milwaukee’s scouting operation is reason for optimism.

Roffe spent the past five seasons with Milwaukee, working his way through scouting operations before reaching his most recent position. The Brewers’ 2023 media guide listed him as their scouting operations coordinator.

His résumé includes experience across several areas of baseball operations. Before returning to Milwaukee, Roffe worked as an analyst in player personnel and pro scouting for the Arizona Diamondbacks from November 2019 through October 2021. That followed a baseball operations internship with the Brewers in 2019 and a baseball research and development internship with the San Diego Padres in 2018. While attending college, he also interned in MLB’s Statcast and labor relations departments.

Together, those stops give Roffe a background spanning research, technology and player evaluation. How he applies that experience to Chicago’s scouting department will be one of the more interesting parts of the eventual announcement.

Roffe graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2018, majoring in finance and minoring in sports analytics. He also spent time on the Bears’ baseball roster. His freshman season included one appearance and one at-bat, going hitless as a pinch hitter against the University of Chicago on May 9, 2015. WashU won, 13-1.

Now, his next Chicago connection would come with considerably more responsibility: helping the White Sox identify the players who will shape their future.

The Milwaukee Brewers are World Series Champions.

For the first time in franchise history, the Brewers stand atop the baseball world, thanks to a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5 of the World Series. And you know somewhere, Bob Uecker is smiling.

But while Milwaukee is known as a small-market team, playing a small-ball brand of baseball, the Brewers just completed one of the most dominant runs in MLB playoff history.

We can start with how Milwaukee rolled through the postseason. After winning a league-best 103 games — three games ahead of the behemoth Los Angeles Dodgers — the Brewers finished the playoffs with a combined 11-2 record. Milwaukee lost just one game in the NLDS to the San Diego Padres, swept those Dodgers in the NLCS, and lost a single game to Tampa Bay in the World Series.

Since MLB expanded to the division series, only two teams posted a better record than these Brewers: The 2005 Chicago White Sox and the 1999 New York Yankees. Both of those teams posted an 11-1 mark, good for a winning percentage of .917.

The Brewers joined the 2022 Houston Astros and the 1998 Yankees with their 11-2 record, good for a winning percentage of .846.

Milwaukee joined another small group with the sweep of the Dodgers. As pointed out by Jayson Stark, the Brewers became just the fifth team in MLB history to win 100 games in the regular season and then knock off the defending World Series champions in the postseason. Also on that list? The 2018 Boston Red Sox, who won 108 games and then beat the Astros in the ALCS; the 2009 Yankees, who won 103 games and defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series; the 1968 Detroit Tigers, who won 103 games and beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series; and the 1942 Cardinals, who beat the Yankees in the World Series after winning 106 games.

And Milwaukee rode an impressive closing stretch to the title. The Brewers went 16-2 over their final 18 games, 19-3 over their final 22 games, 21-4 over their final 25, and 40-14 over their final 54 games.

They only lost five games — FIVE — since Labor Day.

That was back on September 7 if you do not have a calendar handy.

Pitching was certainly a key for the Brewers this October. As noted by the incomparable Sarah Langs, Milwaukee did not allow more than four runs in any of their 13 playoff games, joining the 1990 Cincinnati Reds and the 1983 Baltimore Orioles as the only teams to accomplish that feat over a run to a World Series title since the playoffs expanded back in 1969. And Milwaukee’s bullpen stood out as well, as that group threw 118 innings (55.1% of the available innings, fourth most in playoff history) but held opponents to a .173 batting average while posting an ERA of just 1.38. Those are the second-lowest numbers in a single playoffs since the 2022 Astros (0.83 ERA, .126 OBA).

While the Brewers posted a run differential of +26 over their playoff run, many of their games were close contests. (A 10-1 win over the Rays in Game 3 of the World Series skews that number).

But how Milwaukee responded in some of those games is another key indicator of how dominant — or perhaps how resilient — this group is. Stark found that according to STATS, seven times over these 13 games, the Brewers scored in the very next half-inning after allowing the opponent either tied the game, or took the lead against them.

Only three teams — the 2006 Cardinals, the 1997 Florida Marlins, and the 2002 Angels — did that more. But all three of those teams needed 16 games to do so.

However, perhaps the most eye-popping stat?

Four games to none, the sweep of the Dodgers in the NLCS.

After winning Game 1 2-1, Milwaukee dropped 19 runs on the Dodgers over the next three games, outscoring Los Angeles — the second-best team in the majors — by a combined 19-10.

“This group of guys right here, the 2026 team, will be remembered forever — and they deserve that because they were a team,” manager Pat Murphy said after the game. “They’re not worried about their own stats. No one cares about that. They care about coming together and winning tonight.”

The Brewers did not just win Wednesday night.

They have been winning all season, all fall, and all throughout the playoffs.

And now they are World Series Champions.

As has been foreshadowed all year, the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) is set to expire on December 1, 2026.

Initial negotiations throughout the 2026 season have failed to result in a framework that both sides can agree to. This means that, unless something very unexpected occurs over the next month, MLB will be initiating a lockout when the current deal expires.

Now that the offseason is imminent and the lockout still seems inevitable, it’s time to set expectations for how this all works and what will differ about this offseason from a standard one.

What is a lockout?

A lockout is, essentially, the league forbidding teams from engaging with players in any way until a new CBA is agreed to.

Importantly, a lockout is distinct from a strike. In the latter, the players would be the party initiating the work stoppage whereas it is the league’s decision whether or not to enact a lockout.

News: MLB sent a 34-page memo to owners and high-ranking officials across the league detailing what to expect — and how to act — during the lockout.

MLB’s official website and club websites will again be scrubbed of player images and videos.

And holiday cards? MLB says clubs…

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) October 8, 2026

A lockout is not required. The two sides could continue to operate normally while negotiating if they chose to. In 1994, the league did not enact a lockout, and the offseason operated normally as did the start of the season. It was not until mid-season that the players’ union authorized a strike after having seen no willingness from the owners to budge from their position about a salary cap. That mid-season strike and subsequent loss of the 1994 World Series was devastating for the owners and ultimately led to them dropping their demands for a salary cap.

Since then, the owners have not been willing to risk repeating a mid-season work stoppage.

Instead, if initial negotiations do not look like they will be easily resolved, MLB initiates a lockout the day the CBA expires. When that occurs, the following happens:

• Major League games can not be played.
• Teams are not allowed to contact players on their 40-man rosters.
• Teams are not allowed to make any transactions (signings, trades, etc.) involving Major League players.
• Players will not be paid their standard base salaries. The only money moving between teams and players during a lockout is from deferred contracts or signing bonuses that happen to be due during the lockout.
  • It is important to note, however, that the base salary of MLB players is only paid during the season even under normal circumstances. The players’ union will not feel the effect of a lockout on their wallet unless it drags into the start of the season.
• Players are not allowed to use any team-affiliated facilities regardless of the purpose.
• Any normal offseason activities that involve Major League players (notably the Major League portion of the Rule 5 Draft and spring raining games) will be delayed or cancelled depending on the length of the lockout.
• MLB.com and all official team websites will have all references to specific active players removed.

Essentially, MLB as a whole must stop operating during a lockout for as long as it lasts.

Minor Leagues

The restrictions above only apply to active members of the MLBPA.

Players that are either not on a team’s 40-man roster or a Major League free agent are not subject to the same CBA as the others are. This means that a lockout does not apply to minor league players unless they are on their organization’s 40-man roster.

Teams will be able to continue communicating with their minor league players throughout the offseason as well as signing minor league free agents. Should the lockout extend into spring training, minor leaguers will be able to participate in team workouts. Should the lockout extend into the regular season, the minor league season will begin as normal, with the exception of any players on their organization’s 40-man roster being barred from participating.

Timeline

December 1 is the most important date to remember as it is the final day of the current CBA. At midnight EST, the league is expected to initiate a lockout, just as they did in 2021.

Major League Baseball has officially implemented a lockout, sources tell ESPN. The ninth work stoppage in the sport’s history has begun.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 2, 2021

This means that, just like in 2021, once the mandatory five-day waiting period following the end of the World Series concludes on November 2, teams will be able to make normal offseason transactions for roughly a month. They will be able to sign free agents, make trades, designate players from their 40-man roster for assignment, etc. until the lockout begins on December 1.

This dynamic led to an extremely busy November in 2021. Teams rushed to get as much certainty about their rosters as they could before the lockout officially went into effect. It is very possible that a similar frenzied month of transactions will occur again this November.

The lockout will almost certainly last until both sides agree to a new CBA. There is no strict timeline on this process completing. It could happen before the end of the 2026 calendar year (unlikely) or continue well beyond March 24, the currently scheduled Opening Day.

During the last CBA negotiations, the lockout lasted until March 10. At that time, the two sides were able to agree to a deal that included a delay to Opening Day to allow for three weeks of spring training, but salvaged a full 162 game regular season by rescheduling the opening week games for later in the season in addition to some double-headers.

How does it end?

Essentially, once a lockout is initiated, everything MLB related comes to a halt until either the two sides agree to a new CBA.

The only other way that the lockout would end is if the league decides to end it without a new contract agreed to. In that unlikely scenario, the MLBPA would have the option of formally striking or returning to normal operations under the old agreement while negotiating the next one.

For a new CBA to be ratified requires the approval of both the MLB team owners as well as the MLBPA.

• The league must pass a majority vote among the 30 team owners on a proposed CBA. With 30 total teams, the owners need a minimum of 16 yes votes on any proposal to ratify it.
• The Players’ Association must pass a majority vote between the player representatives for each of the 30 teams and the eight-player Executive Subcommittee. This means that the total voting body for the MLBPA is 38 and requires 20 yes votes for a majority.
  • It is worth noting that while the current CBA was ratified by the MLBPA with a 26-12 margin, the entire Executive Subcommittee at the time voted no on the proposal.

Until both sides vote to accept a CBA proposal, the lockout is expected to continue.

What it means for the Rockies

The above context about the impending lockout is equally relevant for all 30 teams in MLB. For the Rockies specifically, the lockout brings with it some interesting wrinkles and context.

• Rockies owner Dick Monfort is on the negotiating committee for the owners and has been a vocal advocate for a salary cap. Whether he gets his wish or not, it will be very telling to see how the team operates in the wake of whatever eventual agreement is made.
  • Monfort was also on the negotiating committee during the last round of CBA negotiations in 2021-2022. The Rockies were not particularly active during the initial transaction frenzy in November before the lockout but after the deal was struck Monfort gave the green light to the largest free agent contract in franchise history. There is no guarantee a similar thing will occur this time around, however, it would be an understandable for Monfort to want to make a show of confidence in whatever deal is eventually agreed to.
• In his post-season press conference, Rockies President of Baseball Operations Paul DePodesta said that in terms of a lockout the team just needs to be “prepared for any eventuality.” He mentioned specifically being ready to act aggressively in a way that the team was not in a position to early last offseason. Perhaps that portends to the Rockies being busy in November before the lockout is initiated.
• For his part, team President Walker Monfort stated that while losing games due to an extended lockout “would have a negative impact” that the team would operate as if they were planning for a standard regular season. It is possible that the impact of losing games, while large for all teams, would be less dire for a team deep in a rebuild like the Rockies than for those teams that have pushed their chips in for 2027.
• There was speculation all of last season that the Rockies were attempting to keep Charlie Condon (No. 2 PuRP) off the 40-man roster, despite a strong season at Triple-A, specifically so that he would not be subject to a lockout this offseason. Regardless of whether Condon was kept down in Albuquerque with this in mind or not, the net effect is that the third overall pick from the 2024 draft will be able to communicate with team personnel and participate in minor league games no matter how long the lockout lasts.

When all is said and done, the Rockies (and the rest of the league) are in for an unpredictable winter.

The basic framework of what’s coming is in place, but the specifics of how things play out will entirely depend on how negotiations progress once the threat of losing games becomes more immediate. Now we simply need to wait and see whether the two sides are able to find a compromise that both find acceptable.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates and the rest of Major League Baseball is officially in the offseason after the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5 of the World Series to clinch their first title in franchise history.

After two years of the Los Angeles Dodgers winning it all with a top-three payroll in the league, this was a stark difference. Both the Brewers and Rays finished in the bottom half of the league in terms of payroll, yet they were the two most successful teams in the league all season long.

Milwaukee finished the season with a payroll of $146.2 million, which ranked 19th in the league, while the Rays were at $95.6 million. Only the Miami Marlins and Cleveland Guardians, who lost in the American League Championship Series, had cheaper payrolls than the Rays.

The Pirates hovered right in the middle of the Brewers and Rays, with a payroll of $106.7 million, which ranked 23rd in the league. They finished the year with an 82-80 record, their best mark since the 2018 season. They snapped an eight-year streak of losing seasons this year, proving that they are making some strong decisions within the organization.

Last offseason, the Pirates made an effort to spend a little bit more than they have in the past. In 2025, the team had an $84.4 million payroll, which ranked 27th in the league, and that resulted in just 71 wins for the club. By signing players like Ryan O’Hearn and trading for Brandon Lowe in free agency, the Pirates were able to improve their win total by 11 games, which could be a sign of what’s to come.

If the Pirates spend a little bit more money this offseason to improve some of their weaker spots in the lineup, it could result in another jump in the record books. That could lead to their first playoff appearance since 2015, when they were in the National League Wild Card game.

A lot needs to go the right way for the Pirates, but the Brewers’ success in scouting and development, along with just a smidge more spending, could go a long way for them.