1 prediction for every club in '26

A brand new year means new possibilities for all 30 teams. Whether it's postseason success, individual awards, statistical records or player development, there's something every club can dream on heading into 2026.

With the help of MLB.com's 30 beat writers, here's one key prediction for every team ahead of the 2026 season.

Jump to: AL East | AL Central | AL West | NL East | NL Central | NL West

American League East

Blue Jays: Toronto will have the best rotation in baseball
All of the pieces are there. Kevin Gausman is one year older, but he’s also pitching for his next contract as a pending free agent after 2026, and he looked great in ’25. Shane Bieber should be back to “normal” after his Tommy John rehab and is pitching for a big contract, too, while Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce add a new wave of talent to this group. Add in rookie sensation Trey Yesavage and José Berríos, and the Blue Jays have incredible depth on top of their high-end talent. Injuries happen and you can’t always predict pitching, but the Blue Jays have set themselves up as well as any organization in baseball. -- Keegan Matheson

Orioles: The O’s will return to the postseason
When Orioles fans are looking back at this time period way down the road, they may remember the 2025 season as an anomaly of a successful era. After consecutive postseason appearances in '23 and '24, Baltimore went 75-87 and finished in last place in the AL East in an injury-plagued '25 campaign. But in '26, don’t be surprised if the O’s get back to October. They’ve been quite aggressive this offseason, bringing in outfielder Taylor Ward, closer Ryan Helsley and, most notably, slugging first baseman Pete Alonso. The Orioles are loading up, and it should make for better results in 2026. -- Jake Rill

Rays: Junior Caminero will go 40/100 again
There have been exactly two 40-homer, 100-RBI seasons in Rays history: Carlos Peña in 2007, when he set franchise records with 46 home runs and 121 RBIs, and Caminero in 2025. Caminero slugged 45 homers and drove in 110 runs. Rather than sit back and enjoy the season he had, the 22-year-old went right back to work, reshaping his body in the early stages of the offseason. He could have another great season even without reaching those milestones, but we’ll say he does it again even with the move from George M. Steinbrenner Field back to Tropicana Field. -- Adam Berry

Red Sox: Johan Oviedo will be the surprise of the pitching staff
When the Red Sox traded power-hitting prospect Jhostynxon Garcia to the Pirates in December in what felt like an underwhelming package to some, the answers were under the hood. Boston’s brain trust sees a lot of upside in the 6-foot-6, 275-pound Oviedo, who has elite extension that makes him difficult for hitters to pick up. As outlined in a recent piece by MLB.com's Mike Petriello, Oviedo gained an impressive amount of rise on his fastball in his return from Tommy John surgery. In chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s regime in Boston, the Red Sox have been adept at maximizing pitch mixes. Oviedo could be the latest success story. -- Ian Browne

Yankees: The Yanks win 95+ games
It may not be the splashy move fans are clamoring for, but what if "running it back" isn’t a bad strategy? Consider that the Yankees tied for the American League lead with 94 wins, pacing the Majors with 849 runs and 274 homers, surviving a season in which Gerrit Cole didn’t throw a pitch and a leaky bullpen required a midseason revamp. Even without re-signing Cody Bellinger, Aaron Boone portrayed the gap between his team and the Blue Jays as closer than many believe. Judging by the team’s actions this offseason, that may not be winter bluster. -- Bryan Hoch

AL Central

Guardians: Gavin Williams finishes top three in Cy Young Award voting
Williams' breakout was one of the biggest developments for the Guardians in 2025. Coming off his tough '24 campaign, the 26-year-old recorded a 3.06 ERA with 173 strikeouts in 167 2/3 innings over 31 starts, all of which were new career highs. The right-hander was one of the Majors’ best starters in the second half, when he had a 2.18 ERA (tied with Tarik Skubal for second in MLB among qualified starters) over 12 outings. Here’s predicting it will all translate into a dominant '26 in which Williams cements himself as one of the best starters in the American League. -- Tim Stebbins

Royals: Bobby Witt Jr. will be back in the 30-30 club
Witt’s numbers in 2025 might not have been as jaw-dropping as '24, but the Royals shortstop still had a remarkable year as MLB’s hits leader, a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Award winner and a fourth-place finisher in AL MVP voting. After two consecutive seasons of hitting at least 30 homers and stealing 30 bases -- making him the first shortstop to ever do that -- Witt hit just 23 homers in '25 (while hitting an MLB- and career-best 47 doubles) with 38 steals. Here’s thinking that homer number will jump back up in 2026, and that Witt will remain a threat on the bases, as the 25-year-old appears more motivated than ever to get the Royals back to the postseason. -- Anne Rogers

Tigers: Detroit wins the AL Central
A division title seemed firmly within the Tigers’ grasp with a double-digit lead as late as August before a late-season collapse left them settling for a second straight Wild Card berth. The young core has struggled to play to their capabilities for a full season, but with no dramatic moves in the division so far, Detroit’s first division title since 2014 is there for the taking if the front office can fortify the pitching staff, provide a little offensive boost and pave the way for the next group of young talent to arrive during the season. -- Jason Beck

Twins: The kids make an impact
It’s not just Walker Jenkins: The Twins have multiple exciting hitters knocking at the door of the big leagues. Jenkins is the highest rated and the biggest name and could be the soonest to arrive after making it to Triple-A last year. But Emmanuel Rodriguez followed an injury-shortened season with an exciting winter ball campaign, and Kaelen Culpepper has raked at every level. Look for at least two of them to have a positive effect on the 2026 Twins, and maybe all three. -- Matthew Leach

White Sox: Colson Montgomery hits 40 home runs
Remember when Montgomery was struggling mightily for Triple-A Charlotte at the start of the 2025 campaign and needed an April reset in Arizona? Those struggles eventually morphed into 21 home runs and an .840 OPS over 71 big league games once he arrived with the White Sox on July 4. Carrying that total throughout a 162-game campaign brings the left-handed-hitting shortstop above 40. Montgomery’s numbers weren’t perfect, but he should only improve during his first full season, and his power supply is real. -- Scott Merkin

AL West

Angels: Mike Trout bounces back
The biggest issue for Trout in recent years has been his health, and he again missed a month with a bone bruise in his left knee that relegated him to designated hitter duty the rest of the way, but in 2025 he also saw a dip in his production. Trout batted just .232 and hit 26 homers in 130 games. But the three-time AL MVP and 11-time All-Star had a torrid finish to the year after fixing his mechanics and believes he’ll start hitting like his old self again in '26. -- Rhett Bollinger

Astros: Yordan Alvarez breaks the club’s single-season home run record
Considering Alvarez’s highest home run total for a single season is 37 (set in 2022), making the leap to 48 homers would be a huge jump (Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell set the club record with 47 homers in 2000). The No. 1 issue will be staying healthy. Alvarez missed a huge chunk of last season with a hand injury but absolutely crushed the ball upon his return in August. A freak ankle injury suffered Sept. 15 ended his season -- and ostensibly the Astros’ playoff hopes -- but he remains one of the elite hitters in the game. A full season in the middle of a deep Astros lineup could bring a monster season for Alvarez. -- Brian McTaggart

Athletics: Nick Kurtz wins the AL MVP award
It won’t be easy in a league that features Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh and José Ramírez, but Kurtz just had a historically dominant AL Rookie of the Year campaign, and he did it while reaching the big leagues just 283 days after he was drafted. He even received several down-ballot MVP votes, including a fourth- and fifth-place vote. With the ability to make any park look small, Kurtz is looking the part of a generational hitter, and a monster sophomore campaign would put him square in the mix for the first MVP by an A’s player since Miguel Tejada in 2002. -- Martín Gallegos

Mariners: They defend their division title
Seattle is banking on the floor of its 2026 season to be that it came just one win shy of its first World Series in franchise history and that virtually the entire roster is returning to make another run. And on paper, that’s a strong bet, especially in an American League West that doesn’t house a true juggernaut and that the Mariners finally won for the first time since 2001. They should rightfully be the favorites to defend their crown in 2026. -- Daniel Kramer

Rangers: Wyatt Langford goes 30-30
Langford going 40-40 would be too big of a jump, but the 23-year-old hit 22 homers with 22 stolen bases in 134 games in his second big league season, though a trio of oblique injuries landed him on the injured list. Langford is already the Rangers’ second-best position player behind Corey Seager and has lots of raw power that has already translated at the big league level. If he improves his basestealing skills just a little bit and becomes less hesitant in swiping bags, he could easily hit 30/30. -- Kennedi Landry

National League East

Braves: Ronald Acuña Jr. goes 40-40 again
There’s an expectation Acuña will run less frequently to protect his two surgically repaired knees. So, instead of predicting he’ll match the 40/70 season he had in 2023, we’ll lower expectations and predict he will record what would be just the seventh 40/40 season in AL/NL history. Acuña and Shohei Ohtani will both enter 2026 with a chance to become the first player to ever have a pair of 40-homer, 40-stolen base seasons. -- Mark Bowman

Marlins: Sandy Alcantara throws 200 innings again
Alcantara, who had a bumpy return from Tommy John surgery, managed 174 2/3 innings in 31 starts despite being chased in some of his early-season outings. He morphed back into workhorse form by completing at least six frames in 16 of his final 20 starts. Alcantara has topped 200 innings twice, but that milestone is becoming more rare. Just three Major Leaguers reached that mark in 2025, so the 30-year-old righty would have his work cut out for him. -- Christina De Nicola

Mets: Francisco Alvarez will become a superstar
It’s put-up-or-shut-up time for Alvarez, who has endured a litany of setbacks since arriving on the scene back in 2022 as one of the most highly touted prospects in Mets history. Early in his career, Alvarez simply wasn’t a polished offensive player. Lately, freak injuries have upended him, including three hand and wrist surgeries in two years. But he’s healthy now. He’s motivated. He finished last season with a .939 OPS over his final 42 games. And he’s still just 24 years old. Given everything he’s shown the Mets both on and off the field, Alvarez should have every chance to ascend to the stardom many predicted for him four years ago. -- Anthony DiComo

Nationals: James Wood enters the MVP discussion
The first half of Wood's first full season in the Major Leagues earned him an All-Star nod: .278/.381/.534 with a .915 OPS, 24 homers, 69 RBIs and 12 stolen bases in 95 games. Wood struggled to maintain that consistency in 62 second-half games, including a .223 batting average and just four home runs in July and August combined. Still, Wood was the only player in 2025 with at least 30 homers, 38 doubles and 15 stolen bases. Wood was not satisfied with his year as a whole, and he is poised to make even more headlines in his age-23 season. -- Jessica Camerato

Phillies: Bryce Harper finishes in the top three for NL MVP
Harper didn’t have the season everybody expected him to have in 2025, which even had Dave Dombrowski wondering if Harper can return to an elite level of play in 2026. Harper is the type of guy to turn a challenge into a motivator. We think Harper comes into camp as motivated as ever, looking to remind everybody in baseball that he remains one of the sport's best players and he is a future first-ballot Hall of Famer. -- Todd Zolecki

NL Central

Brewers: Brice Turang will have a 30-30 season
Turang’s trajectory since breaking into the Majors in 2023 is a straight line up. His home run total has gone from six to seven to 18. He’s pushed his OPS from .585 to .665 to .794. His OPS+ has gone from 61 to 86 to 121. And, after being voted club MVP in 2025, he’ll have the added confidence boost of playing alongside America’s top talent in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Turang’s steals slipped from 50 in 2024 to 24 in 2025 as he batted more in the middle of the order, but improved baserunning is on the Brewers’ to-do list for next season, and Turang is a good bet to capitalize. -- Adam McCalvy

Cardinals: Matthew Liberatore will be a 15-game winner and become the staff ace
Finally, at long last, Liberatore has a defined role on the Cardinals’ staff and is spending his winter preparing to be the team’s ace following the trade of Sonny Gray. The 6-foot-4 lefty, who was the No. 16 overall pick in 2018, has the kind of stuff and mentality of a go-to pitcher, and now the proper opportunity will come. In 2025, the Cardinals didn’t make him a full-time starter until the final days of Spring Training, and he still went out and pitched a career-most 151 2/3 innings over 29 starts. If he can stay healthy and strong, Liberatore -- the likely Opening Day starter -- could push for 180 innings and 15 wins in 2026. -- John Denton

Cubs: Shota Imanaga has a strong comeback season
The ending to Imanaga’s 2025 campaign made his breakout rookie performance one year earlier feel like a distant memory. He allowed 20 homers in his final dozen regular-season outings. And by the time the Cubs reached the playoffs, manager Craig Counsell was extremely cautious with when and how to use the lefty. The reality was that a hamstring injury early in the season had lingering effects deep into the summer and fall. Imanaga agreed to return via a one-year qualifying offer and by all accounts is very motivated to get back to his ‘24 form, when he was an All-Star and a Cy Young contender. -- Jordan Bastian

Pirates: Paul Skenes becomes the first Pirate to win multiple Cy Youngs
Maybe this is too safe a pick, but I don’t think people fully realize how big a step Skenes took last year. He threw 25 more competitive innings, he saw pitches like the sinker and changeup improve over the course of the season and he pitched through the entire season for the first time. Now that he’s taken a step forward, he could be even better in 2026, even if that’s hard to believe. He became the third Pirate to ever win a Cy Young this year, joining Vern Law and Doug Drabek, and he could be the first Pirate to earn the award again. -- Alex Stumpf

Reds: Elly De La Cruz will be a 30-30 hitter
With 18 home runs in the first half of 2025, De La Cruz seemed poised to easily smash the 30-30 plateau. Then he hit only four homers after the All-Star break while stealing 37 bases overall. He was playing through a left quad injury and showing fatigue in general from playing all 162 games. During the Winter Meetings, manager Terry Francona said he planned to give his two-time All-Star more days off to keep him fresher. And that could be all De La Cruz needs to be the first 30-30 hitter for Cincinnati since Brandon Phillips in 2007. -- Mark Sheldon

NL West

D-backs: Arizona will return to the postseason
The D-backs made a surprise run to the World Series in 2023, and despite winning five more games in 2024, they were home in October after losing a three-way tiebreaker with the Braves and Mets. Last year, sloppy play early in the season and injuries to key members of the pitching staff kept them once again from playing in October. In 2026, though, the Diamondbacks will find a way to break through and play postseason baseball once again. -- Steve Gilbert

Dodgers: Shohei Ohtani wins a fifth MVP
He can't keep doing this forever, but if Ohtani continues to be elite as both a hitter and a pitcher, it's hard to make a case against his status as arguably the most valuable player in baseball, period. Coming off back-to-back 50-homer seasons and a successful return to the mound, Ohtani isn't showing many signs of slowing down. For the first time as a Dodger, he won't have to rehab from surgery during the offseason as he prepares for 2026. A fifth MVP Award would bring him a step closer to tying Barry Bonds' all-time record of seven. -- Sonja Chen

Giants: Logan Webb wins the NL Cy Young Award
Webb has earned Cy Young votes in four consecutive seasons and finished as high as second in 2023, so he could be poised to take another step forward and finally snag the coveted prize next year. Dethroning Skenes, the reigning Cy Young winner, won’t be easy, but Webb is always finding ways to get better and will be motivated to solidify his status as one of the premier starting pitchers in the game. -- Maria Guardado

Padres: San Diego fields the best bullpen in baseball
The Padres made baseball history in 2025, with the first bullpen to send three relievers to an All-Star Game. In '26, it’ll be even better. That’s true, even though they lost Robert Suarez in free agency. They get a full year of Mason Miller, the obvious replacement in the closer role. Adrian Morejon is arguably the sport’s top lefty relief weapon. Throw in Jeremiah Estrada and Jason Adam, and the back end of the San Diego 'pen could be as dominant as any in recent memory (not to mention the serious depth and versatility in the middle innings as well). -- AJ Cassavell

Rockies: The Rockies will be different
Anything different from the 43-119 record last season will be welcome, but no one in their right mind will expect a total turnaround. But a franchise that had become stagnant since going to the postseason in 2017 and 2018 has embraced change. A total turnover of the Major League pitching leadership includes a pitching coach who was involved in calling pitches from the dugout last year: Alon Leichman from the Marlins. Teaching and planning promises to be more advanced, and manager Warren Schaeffer plans to bring an energetic mindset. -- Thomas Harding