Spring Training 2025: Five Storylines to Watch

The grass is freshly cut, the sounds of cleats hitting the dirt is in the air, and reports of players being in the best shape of their lives are flying. It must be Spring Training.

With players reporting to camp this past week, we took a look at some of the biggest storylines heading into a new year of baseball.

Blue Jays and Vladdy can’t cut a deal

This is the storyline that’s going to haunt the Jays, not just for the duration of Spring Training, but the entire season. Vladdy is more likely than not going to be wearing a new uniform next year.

From the sounds of it, Guerrero was asking for absurd money (we’re talking $550 million plus) so it’s not entirely fair to blame the front office for not paying his ransom. It is, however, very fair to criticize them for waiting this long to sign their star player in the first place.

Just like Atlanta did with their star Ronald Acuna Jr. and San Diego did with Fernando Tatis Jr., the Jays could’ve committed to Vladdy years ago and probably saved hundreds of millions of dollars by doing so.

Now, they find themselves with a fringe playoff roster, zero young talent to build around and a completely dejected fan base.

Nice work guys.

New York vs. New York

Juan Soto left the Yankees to join their cross town rivals for a $765 million payday (can’t blame the guy), but the Bronx bombers didn’t let that hold them back.

The Yanks brought in All-Star Cody Bellinger, Atlanta’s ace Max Fried, lockdown closer Devin Williams, and former MVP first baseman Paul Goldshcmidt. Despite losing Soto, this team looks pretty damn scary.

Meanwhile, the Mets — fresh off an NLCS appearance — added possibly the best pure hitter of his generation to their lineup.

Let’s hope this rivalry kicks into high gear in 2025. Wouldn’t mind seeing a couple of brawls.

Are the A’s back?

Don’t look now, but the (no longer Oakland) A’s have themselves a pretty exciting roster.

With a young group headlined by infielders Lawrence Butler and Jacob Wilson, flamethrower Mason Miller, and centerfielder JJ Bleday, this team could be a scrappy contender. All of these guys have flashed superstar talent over the past two years. If they can all put it together for a full season, the no money, no home ballpark A’s could be in the fight for a Wild Card spot.

Too bad they’ll be playing in a minor league stadium in Sacramento with nobody watching (not that empty seats are a foreign concept to this franchise).

Young Bucs are going to put on a show

The Pirates have one of the most exciting 1-2 punches in baseball with starters Paul Skenes and Jared Jones. They’re young, they’ve got great hair and can both throw the seams off the baseball, which even for casual fans, is pretty fun to watch.

We’ll get to see the first full season of reigning Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes, and if last year was any indication, we’re in for another 8 months of him making big league hitters look like high school walk-ons.

This team is still a few pieces away from being a real contender, but getting to watch one of these guys pitch every five days should still be a lot of fun.

Shohei gets back on the mound

The guy who won the MVP last year with his bat alone will be back on the mound in 2025.

You truly run out of ways to express how absurd it is. Ohtani became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season, and was the most-feared hitter in an All-Star-riddled, World Series-winning lineup.

And now, he’s going to start throwing 100 mph fastballs by hitters again.

If Shohei hits the way he did last season and can manage to be the third-best Japanese starting pitcher on his own team, chances are he’s probably going to win another MVP.