This season, however, Toronto has regressed, and with back-to-back losses now finds itself 7.5 behind the second place Yankees and just a half-game up on the cellar-dwelling Red Sox.

In 2024, the Cleveland Guardians won 92 games, last year regressing slightly to 88 although still good enough for a second straight playoff appearance. This season, after a bit of a tough week in which it dropped three of four, Cleveland has turned things around with back-to-back wins and is holding onto first place in the AL Central, a half game up on red hot Detroit.

Since managing just 66 wins in 2022, the Detroit Tigers have slowly been building into a legitimate contender. They upped that total to 78 the following year and then in 2024 finally enjoyed a winning campaign – their first since 2016 – with 86 wins. Last season, they added another win to that total and have now made the playoffs in back-to-back years, ending a nine-year drought in the process.

The Colorado Rockies made a bit of progress in 2024 (if you can call losing “just” 101 games progress), but last season the bottom really fell out. Colorado barely avoided becoming just the third team since 1900 to lose 120 games. Yikes.

No, Bieber WHIP isn’t quite as sparkling as it was in his brief time last year before he got hurt, but his hit rates are solid so it’s still damn impressive for a pitcher who’s been out as long as he was. He’s still punching out more than a batter per inning and has shown a level of command (5.1 K/BB ratio) that you don’t normally see right away from hurlers coming off TJS.

Two years ago, the Baltimore Orioles looked like they were set up for a run of dominance. They won 101 games and had a squad loaded with young talent being fed by a deep pipeline of prospects. Well, things haven’t exactly worked out like everyone expected.

The Boston Red Sox got back to .500 ball last year after two straight losing seasons, but this season they have their eyes on a first playoff appearance since 2021.