June is the month to make a run -- or to set yourself apart.
On June 1 of last year, three teams that would end up winning their respective division -- the Brewers, the Blue Jays and the Guardians -- were at least 5 1/2 games out of first place. That’s a lot, but in the context of a long baseball season, it’s a lead that can vanish quickly.
By the end of June, the Brewers had cut that deficit in half and the Jays had nearly erased it entirely. (The Guardians had actually fallen six games further back in June … but the AL Central’s story had still very much not been written.)
Also, history can be written in June: Cal Raleigh was the AL Player of the Month last June with 11 homers, very much putting him pace for the 60-homer season he’d end up having.
So as we enter the final day of May, here is a sneak preview of seven big storylines we’ll be watching as the calendar flips over to June.
1. How long can Sánchez and Miz keep putting up zeros?
What an intense race we’re having for the NL Cy Young Award. So many pitchers have been brilliant in May, including the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani (three wins, 1.08 ERA), the Brewers’ Kyle Harrison (four wins, 0.96 ERA), the Reds’ Chase Burns (four wins, 1.19 ERA) and the Phillies’ Zack Wheeler (four wins, 1.38 ERA).
And those guys are still behind Cristopher Sánchez and Jacob Misiorowski. The Brewers’ flamethrower has been absurd, giving up just one run all month -- entering Sunday’s outing in Houston -- with 49 strikeouts in 31 1/3 innings. But the Phillies’ lefty already clinched a scoreless month -- he didn’t give up any runs in 39 innings and is in the middle of a streak of 44 2/3 straight scoreless innings. He’s now just 14 1/3 innings behind Orel Hershiser’s record.
You want history in June? It doesn’t get much more historic than that.
2. Can early disappointments save their seasons?
The Mets moved on from several franchise icons to speed-run their ongoing reconstruction; they’re eight games under .500. The Red Sox were many people’s favorite to win the AL East; they’re nine games under .500. The Orioles are supposed to be having their culmination season after a lengthy rebuild; they’re five games under .500. The Tigers were supposed to ride their star-topped rotation to an easy AL Central title; they’re 15 games under .500.
All four teams have been massive disappointments, to say the least, but there is still time for all of them, and June is the month the turnaround has to start. If at the end of June they are all still in the same position, they will all look quite different, maybe permanently so, by the end of July. Speaking of which …
3. Will Trade Deadline season get going?
Here is your reminder that the biggest trade of 2025, Boston’s blockbuster deal that sent Rafael Devers to San Francisco, happened on June 15. It might be too much to expect the Deadline wheels to get greased quite that early, but then again, nobody saw that deal coming last year, either.
Most of the speculation will center on Tarik Skubal, particularly if the Tigers keep losing and the two-time reigning AL Cy Young Award winner comes back strong after elbow surgery. But there are plenty of other potential big names out there, from Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara to Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams to, even, if things really fall apart in Houston, Astros DH Yordan Alvarez. (More on him later.) June is the month that separates the proverbial contenders from the proverbial pretenders; the ones revealed to be the pretenders may be looking to deal, maybe even sooner rather than later.
4. Will there be more clarity in the NL Central?
The best division in baseball -- is there really any doubt about this? -- still doesn’t have any teams with a losing record, but obviously, that can’t last all season. (Right?) June sure feels like it will be a month of separation in one direction or another.
The Brewers had a fantastic May that allowed them to get some distance from the rest of the division, but there are still four fascinating teams behind them. The Cubs have been perhaps the streakiest team in the sport, but they’ve got a favorable schedule for the first half of the month, with every game coming against teams in the West divisions. The Pirates’ offense has been better, but they’ve somehow lost Paul Skenes’ past three starts. The Reds have the worst run differential in the division but keep finding ways to win games. And the young Cardinals have had the unpredictability of such an inexperienced team, but also the pluck you’d expect from one.
For much of May, the NL Central was in position to have four playoff teams. That can’t remain the case in June, can it?
5. Can the Rays keep this up?
The Rays have followed a 16-9 April with a 17-8 May and clearly have been delighted to be back at Tropicana Field, going an MLB-best 20-6 at home. The starting pitching has been magical for the Rays, with a 3.11 ERA (second-best in MLB) and 35-year-old Nick Martinez, of all people, looking like a Cy Young contender. (Also, who had Jonathan Aranda, who came into the season with 92 career RBIs, among the RBI leaders at the end of May? )
Keep an eye on a four-game set at Dodger Stadium at the middle of month: If the Rays are the World Series contenders they consider themselves to be, that’d be quite an opportunity to prove it.
6. Can Yordan sustain a Triple Crown run?
The Astros, fair to say, are not exactly having the season they had been hoping for, at least so far. (Though they’re a little closer to first place in the AL West than you probably think.) But after an injury-riddled 2025, the only real bummer of a season of his career so far, Yordan Alvarez is putting together an all-timer of a start to 2026.
Alvarez has a .305 average, 20 homers and 39 RBIs, stats that could grow and put him into Triple Crown contention. (He’s also first, by a wide margin, in OPS. Even if that isn’t a Triple Crown category, it still very much counts!) Alvarez has only finished in the top five of MVP voting once in his career, finishing third in 2022. He may well be the AL favorite right now.
7. Are the Mariners about to take control of the AL West?
Staying in the AL West, the Mariners were the consensus pick before the season to win not just that division but the whole American League. But they’ve had a middling start, one highlighted by the struggles and injury woes that have befallen Raleigh.
But no one else in the AL West has taken advantage. The Mariners’ sweep of the A’s in West Sacramento earlier this week gave them their first outright division lead of the season. (They were last tied for first after the season’s fourth game.) Seattle won’t play another AL West team until a three-game set against the Angels on June 29 -- they actually only have seven games inside the division until Aug. 14, if you can believe that. Is June the month they start to pull away?