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In 2023, just three years ago, the Atlanta Braves had just completed what is statistically recognized as the greatest single-season of team performance at the plate in a 162-game season. The Braves as a team hit .276/.344/.501 with a wOBA of .359, an astonishing xwOBA of .364, a mind-boggling 307 home runs and a team wRC+ of 126. There is no other offense in the history of baseball that was that consistent over the course of 162 games. If the Braves had gone deep into that year’s Postseason instead of falling flat on their face against the Phillies (for the second season in a row, mind you), that team would be a lot more fondly remembered by not just Braves fans and media but the baseball universe as a whole.

Instead, it feels like one of those things that’ll be left as a footnote to history — especially considering how Atlanta’s offense has looked since then. Despite the fact that six of the core players from that 2023 lineup (Ronald Acuña Jr., Ozzie Albies, Michael Harris II, Sean Murphy, Matt Olson and Austin Riley) are still around and only two of them are currently over 30, the Braves have largely been average in the three seasons since that historic 2023 performance.

Across the three seasons, he Braves have been a completely average ballclub at the plate — they’ve hit .245/.313/.408 with a .315 wOBA, a .321 xwOBA and a wRC+ of exactly 100, placing them in 15th place (exactly middle of the road) among big league ballclubs from the 2024 season through the 2026 season. 2024 saw the Braves go down to a 101 wRC+ (13th overall) before they somehow managed to repeat the trick in 2025 with the same number in that regard and then 2026 actually saw Atlanta’s offense fall down to a 20th-ranked offense in wRC+ with 97.

One thing that’s remained somewhat constant is the home run rate. In 2024, the Braves hit 213 homers (4th overall), hit for .172 in Isolated Power (5th overall) and slugged for .415 (9th overall). In 2025, their homers went down to 190 (14th overall), .155 in Isolated Power (15th overall) and slugged for .399 (14th overall). In 2026, the homers went back up to 204 (7th overall), their Isolated Power went up as well to .162 (9th overall) and they tied with the Yankees for sixth place overall in slugging at .409.

Since the NL Champion Milwaukee Brewers and the AL Champion Tampa Bay Rays are both the talk of the town right, let’s compare Atlanta’s offense in 2026 to theirs. The Braves hit more homers than either the Rays (169) or the Brewers (154, fewest in the NL), Atlanta slugged at a higher rate than either Milwaukee (.403) or Tampa Bay (.402), and the Braves had a higher number in Isolated Power than either the Brewers (.144) or the Rays (.143). So when it came for hitting for power and hitting the long ball, the Braves were clearly better at doing that than any of the two teams who will be playing for that nice gold trophy this Fall.

Despite that, the Brewers (.328) and Rays (.320) both easily cleared the Braves in terms of wOBA and the Brewers did the same in xWOBA (.321) as well. Milwaukee ended up finishing third in wRC+ (107) and Tampa Bay finished in sixth with 104 wRC+.

So what gives, here? I’d imagine that all of y’all who are over here at this particular website are smart enough to realize that there’s more ways to take bases than simply hitting for power and putting ‘em over the fence. Where the Brewers and Rays did a ton of damage this season was from wreaking havoc on the basepaths. According to Statcast, the Brewers finished with a Baserunning Runs Value of 9, which was tied for third in all of baseball. The Rays weren’t all that far behind, as they finished with a BRV of 4. The Braves wound up tied for 21st with a BRV of negative-4. The Brewers led baseball in Extra Bases Taken Run Value and the Rays placed in the Top-10 in that regard — the Braves finished in 23rd in that category.

This wasn’t just a case of Milwaukee and Tampa Bay picking their spots, either — the Brewers attempted to advance baserunners at a less-than-one-percent above average rate while the Rays were only one percent above average in their attempts. The Braves were one-percent above average in that regard and still put up worse numbers on the basepaths.

If you like to think that the Rays and Brewers are on the cutting edge of where the on-field aspect of baseball is heading in the future, then it could be safe to assume that figuring out a way to extract value on the basepaths is going to be the way forward. I’m not saying that the Braves should just forget to hit homers and start bunting everywhere — I am saying that it’s clear the the Brewers and Rays figured out by owner-caused necessity that home runs are expensive and you’ve got to figure out different ways to put runs on the board rather than simply swinging for the fences and putting runs on the board via the long ball.

It doesn’t just mean bunting or eschewing “analytics” or giving up on power hitting altogether, since both the Rays and Brewers have still been able to do that well during the Postseason — it means smart, efficient baserunning and putting pressure on not just the opposing pitcher to make their pitches but also on the defense to stay locked in and make plays in the field against your baserunners. Contact and speed may be the next frontier that we see teams try to maximize on going forward into the future, as both of these teams have proven that if you can put the ball in play and bust it around the basepaths, good things can happen. That appears to be the way forward for the more analytic-minded teams and it’s not going to take a long while for other teams to catch up.

The good news for the Braves is that they appear to be set up pretty well when it comes to the defense and pitching. The Braves have continued to figure out a way to keep their pitching staff afloat despite not having a full-strength starting rotation for a long time now, their bullpen is usually reliable and according to Fielding Run Value, the Braves were top-10 in that category and were better than the Brewers and the Rays. They’ve got the tools to do some good work at run prevention and I’d imagine that that could be the new way for the Braves to consistently win games going forward.

That’s because due to the fact that they’re currently locked in with their core set of batters, the Braves appear to be stuck in a 2023 philosophy due to their personnel limitations. While Walt Weiss, Antoan Richardson, Tommy Watkins and the rest of this staff have been trying their best to make baserunning a strength of this team, they may be limited by the fact that this squad just isn’t exactly adept when it comes to running the bases effectively.

Sprint Speed isn’t everything but it’s pretty tough to be very effective on the basepaths when you’re currently stuck with the 29th-fastest team in baseball according to Sprint Speed. The Braves averaged a Sprint Speed of 27.0 ft/sec in 2026 — the Rays came in 11th at 27.5 ft/sec and the Brewers led baseball at 28.1 ft/sec. In terms of competitive runs (according to Statcast), the Rays and Brewers were both in the Top 3 — the Braves came in at 18th.

This team just may not have the horses to run the track meet in this new era that baseball may be entering into. If that’s the case, then Alex Anthopoulos’s job of getting this offense up to speed (for lack of a better term) may be even trickier than we thought. A lineup that seemed locked in for greatness not even five years ago might find itself left in the dust if Milwaukee and Tampa Bay’s version of baseball turns out to be the way forward for baseball going into the near future.

I’m not going to turn into that guy who says “JUST BUNT IT” whenever there’s even a decent amount of space on the infield but at the same time, it’s fair to ask whether or not the Braves may have found themselves getting left behind at a very inopportune moment in time as far as the future of the sport goes. We’ll see what happens, though.

Dodgers pitcher Will Klein had surgery on Wednesday to remove bone chips and clean up a bone spur in his right elbow, the team announced. The right-hander is expected to be ready for spring training.

Klein was acquired by the Dodgers from the Seattle Mariners in June 2025 and pitched his way onto the World Series roster. The right-hander pitched five scoreless innings over two games against the Toronto Blue Jays, the highlight a career-best four-inning effort in the marathon Game 3, which needed 18 innings to survive. It was the kind of game that earned Klein recognition in and around Los Angeles, and even occasional free drinks.

Those good feelings continued into 2026, with Klein making the opening day roster, and he was a mainstay in the bullpen for the first four months of the season, fifth on the team with 36 appearances and fourth in the bullpen with 41 2/3 innings through July 31.

Klein on the season had a 3.67 ERA and 3.47 xERA with 49 strikeouts and 21 walks in his 41 2/3 innings, and recorded his first two major league saves. He was placed on the injured list on August 1 with right elbow discomfort and was moved to the 60-day injured list on September 2. The latter ended Klein’s regular season, though he continued to rehab through the last week of the regular season and into October, facing hitters in simulated games.

“With Will it’s more get healthy, show that you’re healthy, throw to some hitters,” manager Dave Roberts said on September 22. “He’ll throw during the week off, then we’ll kind of see if there’s an opportunity later on in the postseason, sort of like last year.”

That opportunity never came this postseason for Klein. He’ll begin next season with one year, 81 days of service time and one option year remaining, having used options in 2024 and 2025.

In the wake of the Dodgers’ elimination in the National League Championship Series last week, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said one of his first offseason phone calls was with team owner Mark Walter.

His takeaway from their chat?

“It’s been business as usual,” Friedman said this week.

Over the previous five months, of course, things had hardly been as usual in Walter’s larger business empire.

There was the ongoing federal investigation into the dealings of several insurance companies he owns. His sudden, and troubling, sale of the Lakers in June. Questions about whether he would have to sell the Dodgers next. Uncertainty about whether his Guggenheim Baseball Management group could continue to fund the team at the same historic levels it has in recent years.

However, Friedman said that when he spoke to the embattled billionaire businessman following the team’s sweep against the Milwaukee Brewers, Walter was “obviously really disappointed” but also already focusing on the future.

“What can we do? What are our plans? What are our thoughts for the offseason?” Walter said, as Friedman recounted.

“Our brains weren’t quite there yet,” Friedman added with a chuckle, while speaking at an end-of-season press conference on Wednesday. “But so much of his focus was, ‘How do we put ourselves in the best position to win in ‘27?’”

Friedman’s phone call was the latest indication that, for now at least, nothing about Walter’s ownership of one of MLB’s flagship franchises has tangibly changed.

Team president Stan Kasten made that point repeatedly during the season, downplaying concerns on multiple occasions about the investigation into Walter and any speculation that he might need to sell the Dodgers.

Walter’s holding company, TWG Global, insisted the same in a lengthy statement it put out in August, saying then that “the team is not being sold” while denying allegations of fraud related to so-called “affiliated” loans made from Walter-owned insurance companies to other entities in his business portfolio (including several connected to the Dodgers). 

Granted, only time will truly tell if the Dodgers will indeed be unaffected by Walter’s not-yet-resolved legal saga –– especially after setting MLB payroll records of $415.2 million and $432.8 million the last two years, respectively, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts’ calculations for luxury tax purposes.

For now, though, “business as usual” remains the company line, going into an offseason in which the team will try to retool for a return to World Series contention.

Seattle baseball fans surely know it already — the Mariners are among five teams in baseball to have never won a World Series title. Heading into the 2026 season, there were plenty of people (including myself) that felt the M’s were in position to make a run at not only reaching their first World Series, but potentially even crossing their name off that short list of teams whom have never reached the sport’s highest pinnacle.

As it turned out, this was not the year for the Mariners. They did not make the playoffs — you, dear reader, surely do not need the reminder. However, with the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays making it out of their respective leagues, 2026 is now guaranteed to produce a first-time World Series champion for the second time in four seasons. The list of teams to have never won the Fall Classic is about to dwindle even further, down to four.

Both teams have a host of connections to Seattle, including former Mariners players on each roster (Jake Mailhot has more on them right here). The franchise that would become the Brewers started out in Seattle as the Pilots for one season in 1969 before moving to Wisconsin. Their departure spurred the lawsuit that would eventually result in Major League Baseball awarding Seattle another team, the one we now call the Mariners. The Rays on the other hand, while never calling Seattle home, have made more trades with Jerry Dipoto’s Mariners than any other team during his tenure. They may as well be the Mariners’ younger, more successful sibling by the similar fashion in which they run their organizations. It also can’t go without mentioning that Jeff Sullivan, the founder of this very blog, is currently a senior analyst in the Rays baseball operations department.

All this is to say…somebody’s gotta win it all. It’s not going to be the Mariners in 2026. So, without further ado, I present the following discussion prompt:

Who are you rooting for, the Rays or Brewers, to win their first World Series title? And why?

Let me know your thoughts down in the comments!

With the offseason underway, we are taking a look at every player who appeared for the Texas Rangers in the 2026 season.

Today we are looking at outfielder Sam Haggerty.

That didn’t work out as we had hoped, did it?

Brought in to camp in 2025 on a minor league deal after having been released by the hated Mariners of Seattle, Haggerty was brought up in May of 2025 and filled a much needed role on the team, that of a righthanded outfield bat. It was anticipated that Haggerty would be able to provide value in that role in 2026, as well.

We maybe should have been clued in that the Rangers weren’t completely sold on Haggerty by how they handled his contract situation in the offseason. Haggerty was entering his final season of arbitration eligibility, and normally arb-eligible players are signed in early January, close to the deadline for the team and the player to submitted numbers for arbitration. Haggerty’s deal, for $1.25 million, was announced on the day of the deadline to non-tender players, which suggests the Rangers were going to bring him back at their number or else they’d cut him loose rather than risk paying him more in arbitration. Not exactly a vote of confidence in his ability to be a quality righthanded bat.

And, yes, if you want to be pedantic, Haggerty isn’t a righthanded bat, he’s a switch-hitter, but for his career he has a 765 OPS against lefthanded pitchers and a 548 OPS against righthanded pitchers, the kind of platoon split that makes you think maybe he should junk the switch hitting thing and just hit righthanded all the time.

In any case, I regret to inform you that Sam Haggerty did not provide value in that aforementioned role in 2026. He did not provide value in any role in 2026, in fact. Haggerty slashed .159/.213/.182 in 47 plate appearances in 35 games, which is pretty terrible.

I thought that a 395 OPS might be the worst the Rangers have gotten from a player in that many plate appearances in a season, at least recently, and of course I was wrong. Doing a search on Stathead for players with a sub-400 OPS in at least 45 plate appearances in a season for the Rangers, I discovered that the 2024 Rangers had two such players — Davis Wendzel and Andrew Knizner. Wendzel had a 397 OPS, so he at least edged out Haggerty, though Knizner’s 394 OPS put him just behind Haggerty. Knizner put up his putrid OPS in 93 plate appearances, which is pretty impressive, if you think about it.

Curtis Terry had a 279 OPS in 48 plate appearances in 2021, which is the lowest for any player with at least 45 plate appearances for the Rangers since 1973, at the second lowest for the Rangers if we exclude pitchers (Dick Bosman and Pete Broberg qualify in 1972 if we do include pitchers). Robinson Chirinos in 2020, Hanser Alberto in 2016, Mike Carp in 2014 and Cristian Guzman in 2010 are the other qualifiers in the 21st century.

I’m now reminded that the Rangers traded Tanner Roark to the Nationals for Guzman, and am irked.

The most memorable part of Haggerty’s 2026 season is probably the circumstances surrounding his release. Haggerty went on bereavement leave on June 1, and then was designated for assignment a few days later, when he returned from bereavement leave. Unfortunate timing, that.

Haggerty is also a bit noteworthy because he wore number 0. Only three other players in Rangers history have sported a 0 — Al Oliver, Oddibe McDowell, and Junior Ortiz.

I am not a big uniform number guy — I would be hard pressed, off the top of my head, to give you the uniform number of any Ranger — but I do have opinions on uniform numbers. One of them is that 0 is an acceptable number, but only for certain players. There should be some flava to you and your game if you are going to wear number 0.

Al Oliver and Oddibe McDowell? Good 0s.

Junior Ortiz? Anonymous backup catcher. If he were a mediocre starting catcher, I’d say no, but I think a backup catcher who doesn’t play much can be a number 0.

Sam Haggerty as a bench guy who plays a number of positions in the infield and the outfield is an acceptable 0. But in 2026, he was basically a platoon left fielder, and you can’t be a platoon left fielder and wear number 0 unless you’ve got a lot of spice in your game, unless you’re an energy guy.

Of current Rangers on the 40 man roster, Alejandro Osuna and Cody Freeman would be good number 0s. Someone tell one of them to change their number for 2027.

Previously:

Nolan Kingham

During the playoffs, teams that aren’t participating usually fade from the spotlight. MLB discourages any team from making headlines that might take attention away from postseason action. Of course, it’s also quite possible the Blue Jays wouldn’t provide us with much to discuss regardless.

Let’s try a question:

Which Blue Jays player did you have the highest hopes for, only to see them fall short of your expectations?

There are plenty of possible answers, but right now, mine is Travis Snider. Snider was the organization’s top prospect and made an encouraging debut. In 2008, at 20, he appeared in 24 games and and hit .301/.338/.466.

The next year, at 21, he played 77 games and hit .241/.328/.419—not bad for someone his age. In 2010, he posted a .255/.304/.463 line over 82 games.

Some decisions didn’t make sense to me. He was a top prospect on a team that finished 11 games out of first place—so why not let him play every day? At 22, he posted a .767 OPS. Why not give him a regular spot in the lineup?

In 2011, he played just 49 games for Toronto. On July 30, the Pirates traded him.

He spent three seasons in Pittsburgh, hitting .244/.314/.388 over 311 games, and later spent a year with the Orioles.

I always felt he was a bit mismanaged. If you call up a player at age 21, you need to commit to playing him regularly. But the Jays had their struggles with developing young talent at that time, often opting for veterans like Kevin Millar, Brad Wilkerson, and Kevin Mench instead. When a young player arrives at 20 or 21, you have to let him play.

Now it’s your turn. You don’t need to write 400 words—just share your pick and your reasoning.