Each division's most compelling team this offseason

The offseason is here. It seems like it was just Spring Training, and here we are: Looking forward to next year. Which means it’s time to start to clock in on the Hot Stove and all the offseason maneuvers every team has to make to get ready for the next Spring Training.

All teams will end up making moves, which will all be interesting in their own way. But there are some teams that are going to have to make some truly fascinating decisions over the next few weeks and months.

Here’s a look at a team from each division that will be particularly compelling to watch as we motor into the offseason.

AL East: Orioles
All right, so the fun, house-money part of the Orioles' rebuild is over: It’s time to start getting serious. They got swept out of the AL Wild Card Series again but, perhaps more alarmingly, they won 10 fewer games in 2024 than they did in 2023 -- not the upward trajectory we’re supposed to be seeing at this point. There were plenty of reasons for that, from Jackson Holliday’s rookie struggles, to Adley Rutschman’s step back, to all of the pitching injuries. But really, the vibe just felt off for the Orioles for the final few months. And now, they face the loss of ace Corbin Burnes -- unless they are willing to do what it takes to sign him on the open market.

The Orioles still have a lot of young, cost-controlled talent. Holliday’s ascendance is still coming -- don’t you worry -- and Rutschman figures to bounce back from his strange second half. Star closer Félix Bautista should be back on the mound in the ninth inning after missing all of 2023. So now is the time for the front office to be a little more aggressive. The Orioles need a big middle-of-the-order bat (especially with Anthony Santander a free agent) and an ace (either Burnes or a replacement). Those don’t tend to come cheap. But the Orioles have no excuse not to be in on anyone and everyone. It’s time for the next step.

• Orioles GM: ‘We need to get to a better position next year’

AL Central: Tigers
The Tigers started to turn toward 2025 -- which is why you saw Jack Flaherty pitching for the Dodgers in the World Series -- just around the time their team got ridiculously hot, ultimately soaring into the ALDS. It was a proof of concept that the Tigers clearly needed, a sign that this young core is definitely something to build around.

But now it’s time to add on -- particularly while Tarik Skubal is at the absolute top of his game and under club control for two more seasons. How will they address their needs, particularly in the infield? Do they swing big on a third baseman? Do they give up the ghost on Javier Báez? What about Spencer Torkelson? This team may be just a couple of pieces away from being the team in the AL Central going forward. Will Detroit go out and get them?

• 5 questions Tigers must answer this offseason

AL West: Mariners
You can tell things went sideways in Seattle this year: They did change managers right in the middle of the playoff chase, after all. The problem with both managers -- Scott Servais and replacement Dan Wilson -- is that neither one of them could hit 35 homers, which is what the Mariners needed more than anything. When you have a pitching staff as dominant as this one was (second in MLB in ERA), you don’t want to waste a second of it. You never know how long any pitcher is going to stay healthy, after all, let alone all of them.

The Mariners need hitters -- several of them, in fact. The good news is that so many positions were below average last year with the bat that they don’t have to swing that big to raise the floor. The bad news is that it’s still not entirely clear how to find big bats that work at T-Mobile Park, which has been the toughest hitter’s park in MLB. Can the Mariners upgrade the offense without trading from their rotation, their central strength? There is much urgency here -- there’s too much good going on in Seattle not to be aggressive.

• 5 questions facing Mariners in a big offseason

NL East: Mets
The Mets were such a glorious story down the stretch that you almost forget 2024 was supposed to be their transition year. Now that the giddy highs of October are over, though, it’s probably time for the Mets to level up.

President of baseball operations David Stearns certainly sounds like a guy who is ready to start going after some big fish, saying the Mets could take a “big shot at a major free agent of long-term contract or significant money.” We all know that owner Steve Cohen is willing to spend to get the Mets to the World Series, and this may be the offseason in which we learn just how much. The Mets first have to figure out what to do about free-agent first baseman and fan favorite Pete Alonso, as well as a rotation with its top three starters also entering the open market.

After that, though, comes the biggest question: Will they make a serious run at Juan Soto?

• Alonso’s free agency and more Mets offseason questions

NL Central: Cardinals
The Cardinals are in the process of reconstructing their entire front office, with president of baseball operations John Mozeliak staying on one more season as they transition to a Chaim Bloom regime. Bloom is currently focusing on the Minor Leagues, but the Cards have already said they expect Major League payroll to go down as they tend to the farm system.

That takes them off the market for any big names, but it might mean they’d be willing to trade some -- particularly Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras and maybe even Nolan Arenado. That might be too aggressive for the famously buttoned-up Cardinals front office … but it’s also possible these changes are being made precisely to, at last, unbutton those collars a little bit and try something new. Just how dramatic will the roster shuffling be? The Cardinals could shift the balance of power for a lot of teams this offseason, not just their own.

• 7 questions facing the Cards this offseason

NL West: Giants
Buster Posey’s in charge! You don’t bring in a franchise legend to replace the always-an-eye-on-the-long-view front office that had been running things just to kick the can down the road. The Giants want to start winning right now, and you get a sense they’re going to take some big swings to do so.

• 8 potential free-agent fits for the Giants

They have plenty of questions to answer first, most immediately what they’re going to do after Blake Snell opted out, as expected. The Giants have been looking for a superstar for so long that the last superstar they had is, well, now the guy in charge of finding the next one. Will Posey get one right off the bat?