24 things we're looking forward to in 2024 season

24 things we're looking forward to in 2024 season

March 27th, 2024

We have almost made it to Opening Day. As enjoyable as the two Dodgers-Padres games in South Korea were, there is something special about a day when there are 15 games, happening everywhere. On Thursday, that will become a reality. (Well, we're down to 13 after the Brewers-Mets and Phillies-Braves games were postponed until Friday.)

This is the first day of a long season. Thus, it’s the last day of anticipation -- when everyone is tied, when you can still dream on the future.

In that spirit, considering all the possibilities that lie ahead of us this season, here’s a list of 24 things to look forward to during the 2024 season. We can’t wait. Can you?

1) The Rangers trying to win another one
It has been 24 years since anyone (the 2000 Yankees) repeated as champions. The Rangers are the next team to give it a shot. If they can keep their heads above water until Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer return from the injured list, they might just be able to pull it off.

2) ’s encore
The Braves superstar won his first MVP Award -- first of many? -- in 2023 after hitting 41 homers and stealing 73 bases, something no one in baseball history had ever done before. (Or ever really considered.) How do you follow up a season like that? One suspects Acuña will run a little less this season, but those power numbers could actually go up -- he’s still only 26, after all. The question, as always: Can he stay healthy?

3) The Dodgers are capital-S Stacked
Needless to say, when you bring in and and and to a team that won 100 games, you are thinking big. The Dodgers don’t have everything tied up exclusively in just this season the way that, say, the Yankees do, but this is still a team geared up to win right now. The Seoul Series was a little bit of a shaky start. But everything this team does until October will be must-watch. And come October … we might finally get to see Ohtani in a playoff game.

4) ’ unprecedented move
Manager Dave Roberts said the superstar is moving to shortstop “permanently, for now.” While we’re still not quite sure what that means, it’s a pretty big deal that a player the quality of Betts is moving to a more difficult position -- one he hasn’t played regularly in more than a decade. How long will he stay there? How will he look? What does it mean for the Dodgers? We won’t be able to look away.

5) A special game in Birmingham
On June 20, as part of Juneteenth festivities, the Giants and Cardinals will play a game at a truly historic venue: Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., former home of the Birmingham Black Barons. That’s the first professional team Willie Mays played for, back in 1948. And we may well see Say Hey Willie back on the field again.

6) The Orioles keeping the party going
The Orioles won more games in 2023 than they ever did in a single season with Cal Ripken Jr. on the roster, an amazing factoid. And they might be better in 2024? The big addition is atop the rotation, and while No. 1 MLB Pipeline prospect is starting the season in the Minors, one shouldn’t expect him to stay down there long. The Orioles are the sort of team that’s stacked with so much young talent that they should improve every year. Which is pretty scary to think about.

7) The London Series is back, again
Major League Baseball returned to London for the first time since before the pandemic last year when the Cardinals and Cubs played two games at London Stadium. This year, from June 8-9, there will be a real East Coast feel when the Mets and Phillies head to jolly old England. They’ve seen enough soccer rivalries out there to know how a game like this can get the blood boiling.

8) The Braves’ dynasty quest
The 1990s Braves were terrific and the source of many, many happy memories throughout the American South. It nevertheless must be said that among some circles, they will be remembered less for what they won (all those division titles) and more for what they didn’t (all those years they didn’t win the World Series). Like those Braves, these Braves have their one title, but this era will feel somewhat unfulfilled if that’s the only one they get. This team looks as strong as the last few. Can they add on and cement their legacy?

9) Fresh faces coming on strong
It was a bit of a surprise to see Holliday not on the Orioles’ Opening Day roster, but don’t worry: The game’s No. 1 prospect will be up sooner rather than later. He’s one of many future stars we’ll see for the first time this year. The Brewers’ , the Rangers’ and the Tigers’ are among the top prospects who will crack Opening Day rosters, while Holliday and the Pirates’ should arrive before long. With all the young talent in the game already, there is even more coming.

10) The Yankees at a crossroads
There may be no team in baseball more desperate to win now than the Yankees, who have gone 15 years without a World Series appearance and of course missed the playoffs entirely last season. They’re down Gerrit Cole for a while, but they still have and back to back in this lineup … and an entire organization potentially facing massive changes if this doesn’t work out.

11) trying to be Mike Trout again
For the first time in a long time, Trout is not the consensus best player in baseball. He’s still, however, Mike Trout, and while he’ll be without Ohtani this year, he is healthy and eager to establish himself as an elite force again. Who dares doubt him?

12) The Phillies trying to break through
The Phillies made the World Series two years ago and came this close last year. (It’s still a little shocking that they lost that 3-2 NLCS lead at home.) They’ve essentially brought back the same team, with Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola now locked in for a few more years, to give it another try. This veteran team isn’t getting any younger -- hey, none of us are -- so this may be the best chance they’ve had yet. The Braves still stand in their way. But they stood in the Phillies’ way the last two years, too, only for the Phillies to knock them out of October.

13) Vlad Jr.’s attempted return to superstardom
After the 2021 season, it looked like we had a future Hall of Famer in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Only Shohei Ohtani having that season, the way that he had that season, kept Vlad Jr. from being the AL MVP.) Since then, Vlad Jr. has been … good. He’s been good! He’s even been very good. But he hasn’t been that inner-circle, transcendent superstar the Blue Jays, and the rest of baseball, were expecting him to be. The Jays need a playoff series win at some point to justify all they’ve been doing the last few years, and Vlad Jr. is central to those hopes. He’s a free agent after 2025. He’s also still only 25 years old. The time is now.

14) The Astros going for another ALCS
The Astros, who moved to the American League in 2013, made their first ALCS in 2017 and haven’t missed it since. This season would be their eighth straight ALCS -- no team has ever done that -- and while the Astros are still loaded with talent, they are getting older. How much longer can this streak continue? Will we ever see one like it again?

15) Julio staying hot all season long
For all the fun things we saw in 2023, I’m not sure anything was more purely joyous to watch than what Julio Rodríguez was doing in the month of August. Julio was the best possible version of himself, a five-tool player dominant in all five tools, and he nearly carried the Mariners to the postseason by himself. If he can do that for a full season—and he’s young enough to take several more steps forward—he’ll win the AL MVP Award.

16) The D-backs defending their NL pennant
It is frighteningly easy to forget that the defending NL champions are not the Dodgers, or the Braves, or even the Phillies: It’s the D-backs, who were outscored in the regular season but got hot at the right time in the playoffs. It’s to Arizona’s credit that the club didn’t rest on its laurels. Mike Hazen’s front office brought in (although he will start on the IL), , and -- pending a physical -- to upgrade a roster that already looked primed to improve. Even if the Dodgers dominate the NL West, the battle for second place (and a Wild Card spot) could be intense.

17) Elly turning talent into production
is as exciting a player to watch as there is in the whole sport, which is belied a bit by his actual statistics, which were as middling as his play was electric in 2023. If he can channel his ample gifts into full-on production, he could elevate the Reds all by himself. He’ll be a must-watch player either way.

18) Craig Counsell’s efforts to transform the Cubs
The Brewers won the NL Central last year, but they lost their manager to a division rival in Chicago. (Not to mention their ace to Baltimore.) The Cubs, with Counsell now in charge, back in the lineup and Japanese hurler in the rotation, look like the favorites in the NL Central, a division they haven’t won in a full season since 2017. Last year ended in a collapse. This year, with the new guy in charge, expectations are incredibly high. They should be.

19) Speedsters running (even more) wild
One of the happiest offshoots of the new rules last year -- along with, you know, games that allowed you to arrive home in time to get a good night’s sleep -- were all the stolen bases. The game was faster, quicker and more exciting, and players were running the bases like it was the ‘80s again. You should see even more of that this year, and with some young speedsters coming up from the Minors, we could even, someday, see a 100-steal season again.

20) The next step for the Twins
No matter what happens this year, Twins fans can be happy to know that no one is going to bring up their postseason misery even once this year: They at last won a playoff game – and even a whole series. Now it’s time for the next step. The Twins, minus Sonny Gray, look a little weaker than they did last year, but in the AL Central, they still might have more than enough to get back to October. Can they make a serious run if they do?

21) Milestone watch
While there is nothing on the scale of, say, Albert Pujols’ 700th homer, there are some fun milestones that could well be reached in 2024. , when he returns, is just 56 strikeouts away from 3,000. is only 91 hits away from 2,000. And and are one and five homers away from 300, respectively.

22) A quick rebound in San Diego
Last season was a total nightmare for the Padres, for reasons that were as confounding as they were obvious: This team couldn’t win close games, they couldn’t come through in the clutch and couldn’t catch a break. Even without (off to the Bronx), (Houston) and (San Francisco), the Padres could improve simply by having better fortune. With , and , they don’t lack for talent.

23) The Cardinals trying to put 2023 behind them
It’s difficult to overstate how jarring 2023 was for the Cardinals organization. It was their first losing season since 2007, and their first last-place finish since 1990. There were also controversies, clubhouse battles, pitching fiascos and an unusual number of empty seats at Busch Stadium. They’ve leveled up their pitching this year to go with a young, emerging lineup. It better work out. One awful year is an aberration. Two is a pattern … an ominous one.

24) Seriously, it’s baseball
A great prism through which to watch baseball this year? . One of the baseball’s best players for nearly two decades, a guy who sure looks like a Hall of Famer, essentially started his career over by signing a Minor League contract with the Blue Jays and trying to fight his way onto the big league roster. He has nothing to prove. Why is he doing this? For the same reason that you are watching: Because he loves this game more than anything in the world. Because to get as close as you can to it is all one could hope for. Because baseball is worth fighting for. We’re about to get so much baseball over the next six-plus months. We cannot wait.