6 sneaky-fun teams to watch this season

The great NBA writer and podcaster Zach Lowe puts together an annual list called his NBA League Pass Rankings, based on watchability -- which teams, when you stumble across one of their games, you don’t dare click away. I’ve always loved this feature, because, as a sports fan, you understand it implicitly: A team’s quality, in terms of wins and losses, can be entirely independent from how purely enjoyable they are to watch.

Inspired by Lowe, we’re going to apply his general idea to the baseball world, for when you find yourself flipping around on MLB.TV, looking for a game on which to focus. We’re not going to list all 30 teams here -- you probably don’t need us to tell you that the Shohei Ohtani-led Dodgers are highly watchable -- but instead pick out six squads that we’re going to find ourselves watching all year, no matter where they are in the standings.

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Winning always helps, of course, and it’s nice to have postseason stakes involved, especially once we get late in the regular season. But still, there are teams that, even if they aren’t contenders, I know that when I come across them in, say, mid-June, I will watch every pitch. Maybe they’ve got one or two particularly electric players. Maybe they’re plucky enough to make a surprising run. Maybe they’ve just got a fanbase that’s starting to rev itself up, that senses something cool may be happening. But they are teams you can’t look away from.

Here are six sneaky-fun teams in terms of MLB.TV watchability for 2026.

Athletics

Frankly, Nick Kurtz himself would probably be enough to get the A’s on this list. There is some question as to whether he’ll be able to put up the sort of absolutely ridiculous numbers over a full sophomore season that he did in his AL Rookie of the Year campaign, when he basically hit like Ohtani and Aaron Judge. He’ll still be pretty great even if he can’t match up to that in 2026 -- and heaven help us if he even improves -- but he’s not the only party going on in West Sacramento.

This lineup is, rather famously at this point, packed with exciting young position players, from Tyler Soderstrom (24) to Jacob Wilson (23) to Lawrence Butler (25) to the highlight-reel catch machine that is Denzel Clarke (25). (MLB Pipeline’s No. 4 prospect, 19-year-old Leo De Vries, is on the way, too.) Add in “veterans” Brent Rooker and Shea Langeliers, and you’re going to see a lot of offense. Sure, the pitching staff is also likely to provide a lot of offense, but hey: Who doesn’t like to watch a lot of late-night offense!

Marlins

My colleague Mike Petriello has already made the case that the Marlins should not be so easily dismissed in the NL East race. I find this case a compelling one. It’s not just that they’ve got some exciting young hitters in outfielders Owen Caissie, Kyle Stowers and Jakob Marsee, or a cadre of young pitchers who, if they all click at the same time, could be a downright terrifying rotation to face one after another.

But it’s also, as Petriello points out, that the Marlins -- out of necessity, desperation, innovation or a combination of all three -- are being downright experimental this year, in a variety of ways. It’s always fun to watch a team try to do something different. And the Marlins, no matter what happens, are definitely going to be doing that.

Pirates

We still don’t know if MLB Pipeline No. 1 prospect Konnor Griffin -- who, absurdly, remains only 19 years old -- is going to be on the Opening Day roster for the Pirates. If he is, well, he’ll be a must-watch player every game. But the Pirates are a sneaky interesting team for MLB.TV watchability even if he doesn’t start the year with the big club.

That obviously starts with Paul Skenes, whose every start is a must-watch affair. But even when Skenes isn’t on the mound, the Bucs' pitching staff will make for compelling viewing, whether it’s Braxton Ashcraft, No. 11 prospect Bubba Chandler (who could be a riveting Robin to Skenes’ Batman) or even Jared Jones, who has a shot to be back in action by June.

The offense should be better this year, too, with help from some offseason additions. And while Oneil Cruz hasn’t become the star everyone hoped he’d be, his enormous raw talent means that he can do things nobody else can do in those moments when it all comes together. Add in those classic jerseys and that beautiful ballpark, and I’m never turning off a Pirates home game.

Rays

They’re back at Tropicana Field this year, which is its own feel-good story after a season at the Yankees’ spring home in Tampa. The Trop gets a bad rap sometimes, but it’s not without its charms, and I suspect, the first few times you see it, you’ll realize you kind of missed it.

But what’s most intriguing about the Rays is that, even after trading away Brandon Lowe and Jake Mangum, how many bats they might have. They’re led of course by Junior Caminero -- who hit 45 homers in 2025! And he’s still only 22! -- but there are actually quite a few guys who will be fun to watch progress this year, from speedster Chandler Simpson to (especially) No. 63 prospect Carson Williams at shortstop to even Gavin Lux, who will get another opportunity to show his stuff for a full season, unimpeded.

There are other sources of intrigue -- Shane McClanahan is finally back after two lost seasons -- but the Rays have a quirkiness about them this year that, in a tough division, will either surprise some people or flame out spectacularly.

Reds

This one isn’t all that complicated. You’ve got a sneaky-awesome pitching staff, full of dudes who throw ridiculously hard, but, mostly, you’ve got Elly De La Cruz. I’m not sure there’s a more fascinating player in baseball this season than Elly. His talent is otherworldly, as anyone who has ever watched him play can tell immediately. (He always looks like he was beamed here from another planet.)

But the process of that transcendent talent translating to production has been a choppy one. De La Cruz is hypnotic to watch, even when he’s flailing. But if he can ever put it all together -- and it seems like maybe now’s about the time it would happen, if it’s ever going to? -- he could honestly rival Ohtani in watchability. De La Cruz is a player who looks like, at any moment, he might just sprout wings and fly away. Maybe this is the year he does.

White Sox

The White Sox were better last year than you remember. They weren’t good, let’s not get carried away. They did lose 102 games, after all. But that’s still 19 fewer games than they lost in 2024, and there were little signs of hope here. Shane Smith, a 2024 Rule 5 Draft pick, now looks like a solid starter, one who is still only 25 years old. Shortstop Colson Montgomery had a legitimately breakthrough season and, at 24, may have another one coming. Fellow position player prospects like Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero and Chase Meidroth also debuted and showed some promise.

And now there’s Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami, with whom the White Sox surprised many by being able to sign in free agency. There will be many homers launched on the South Side this year, always a compelling visual on MLB.TV. And heck, you can always know that the Pope may be watching, too.