By Joe Browne

Houston Astros: B-

2024 was undoubtedly the worst season in recent history for the Astros. Despite that, they once again still managed to win the AL West. The season started really bleak, on May 8th  Houston sat at 12-24 and 8.5 games out of first. Later, on June 18th they were an even 10 games out of first. Following that, Houston ripped off 7 straight wins to get themselves right back into the AL West race. From there on out the Astros played very well going 55-33 the rest of the way home. The real failure came in the postseason when they were swept in the wildcard by an upstart Detroit Tigers squad. An inexcusable playoff loss if you ask me, the team with quite literally zero playoff experience prevailed against the one with the most playoff experience. Kyle Tucker turned in an absolutely stellar season and if it had not been for his midseason injury, an MVP case may have been able to be made. The same was true for Yordan Alvarez who has fully established himself as one of the most consistent, clutch and best overall hitters in the entire sport. Despite being in his mid-30’s, Altuve turned in yet another great season further cementing his eventual spot in Cooperstown. The pitching staff really showed up when it mattered most in the second half. Especially Hunter Brown and Josh Hader who were both really bad at the beginning of the season Then, they were both able to put together solid years come seasons end. Young guys like Roenel Blanco and Yanier Diaz were steady presences the entire season who gave Houston a big boost. Moving into next year, this lineup needs some more depth. An injury or two would be killer for this lineup with the way it is currently constructed. They have holes at both corner infield spots assuming Alex Bregman is not coming back in free agency. Dana Brown has a lot on his hands this offseason. Houston will look to make the right moves to get back to the World Series.

Seattle Mariners: D

Eighty five wins a season ago is not a bad mark but when you take into account Seattle’s midseason collapse it warrants this poor mark. This starting pitching staff is nothing short of excellent. Seattle has created themselves a five headed monster with the likes of Gilbert, Castillo, Woo, Miller and Kirby. At one point Seattle found themselves up an even ten games in the AL West. At that same point (June 18th) they were also thirteen games above the .500 mark. Unfortunately for them, as they began to falter the Astros got piping hot. Allowing Houston to rally themselves back into division contention and eventually take over. Seattle’s ultimate downfall was their inability to put runs on the board all season long. The moves Jerry Dipoto made last offseason were looked at as the ones that would round out and fill out this lineup. Both Jorge Polanco and Mitch Garver were disastrous additions and overall net negatives. Combined with disappointing offensive seasons from two mainstays in the Seattle order in Julio Rodriguez and J.P. Crawford. They also desperately traded for Randy Arozarena at the deadline in hopes of him being able to jumpstart their offense as a whole. Yet again, another move that did not work out. All of this led to the midseason firing of long time skipper Scott Servais. He was then replaced by Dan Wilson who made no difference in the long run. Having possession of arguably the best starting rotation in all of baseball will always keep Seattle in the hunt, but serious lineup additions will be needed if they want to return to the postseason.

Texas Rangers: D

The Rangers 2024 campaign was further evidence that “World Series Hangover” does in fact definitely exist. They struggled all season to get consistently hot and found themselves falling into mediocre territory. Texas returned virtually the same lineup that won the World Series in 2023 but the script flipped in 2024. Guys like Heim, Semien, Garcia and Taveras did not put up the same production they did for the World Series winning squad. This team still has a boatload of talent but 2024 was simply just not their year. That pool of talent includes Corey Seager who if not for an injury would have been another guy to be a serious MVP contender. He popped thirty homers in just 123 games to the tune of a 145 OPS+ this year. Any lineup that contains a player that can put up those numbers is going to be one to look out for. Moves will have to be made by Chris Young to bolster up this team a bit. With that being said, it’s early but be on the lookout for them in 2025 because I am expecting a big bounce back year from the champs.

Oakland Athletics: D+

The Oakland or now better known as just the Athletics did not lose over 100 games in 2024! That’s a win in my book for a franchise that has experienced such miserable baseball these last few years. 93 loses this season is certainly a lot but nothing compared to years past. The A’s had some guys establish themselves with really great years in 2024. Brent Rooker, Mason Miller, Shea Langeliers and Lawrence Butler all put together really nice seasons. Finally, the A’s have some players they can hopefully begin to build around for the future. Also, prospects like Jacob Wilson and Nick Kurtz are guys that will prompt A’s fans (if there are any left) to begin looking forward to the future. Who knows, maybe a fresh start outside of Oakland is the boost this franchise needed to start stringing together some success.

Los Angles Angels: F

The Angels are a flat out disaster. The post-Ohtani era got off to a hot start in 2024 with a 99 loss season. Once again, Mike Trout had a crushing season ending injury that sidelined him virtually the entire season. When healthy, he showed flashes of greatness once again but we did not see enough from him in 2024. Simply put, outside of the first ballot hall of famer in Trout and flamethrowing close Ben Joyce the Angels have nothing appealing about them at all. They are bad, boring and take a backseat to the Dodgers in Los Angeles. It boils down to never being able to develop any starting pitching and on top of that seeming to constantly give out bad contracts in free agency. In all honesty, nothing is going to change with this franchise until Arte Moreno finally decides to sell the team.

Sources:

Baseball Reference

Baseball Savant

FanGraphs

MLB Pipeline