There are six MLB teams with an active streak of at least three consecutive seasons below .500, but as the offseason kicks into high gear ahead of next week’s Winter Meetings, each of those six have reasons to feel hopeful for the future.
There are plenty of holes to fill on these rosters, but the Hot Stove provides plenty of opportunities to do just that. And each of these teams has positives to point toward. So here is a closer look at these six clubs: What has gone wrong, what they have going for them, what they might do to end their streak of losing seasons … and the chances that they actually will.
Athletics (76-86 in 2025)
Last winning season: 2021
What has gone wrong: Well, it’s fair to say the A’s have had a tumultuous few years since their last winning season. It might be asking a lot of any team to keep a steady ship amidst all the movement and transition the A’s have been dealing with, but even as they played their first season in West Sacramento as they prepare for their eventual move to Las Vegas, the problem remains simple: Pitching. The A’s always have hitters — and they have even more than usual now — but the old “Moneyball” A’s days of Barry Zito, Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and the gang seem long in the past. The A’s just haven’t been able to put together a full pitching staff, for a while now, and it probably didn’t help that Sutter Health Park played very hitter-friendly in the team’s first season there.
What is going in the right direction: Seriously, look at these hitters. Tyler Soderstrom. Jacob Wilson. Lawrence Butler. Max Muncy (the other one). Zack Gelof. Denzel Clarke. Shea Langeliers. And of course, reigning AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz, who was simply one of the best hitters in the sport last year. And all those guys are in their 20s, most of them in their early 20s. And we haven’t even talked about Brent Rooker yet, who just had another fine year at age 30. The A’s are going to score runs, and a lot of them, and they’re going to do so for several years to come.
Chances the streak ends in 2026 (scale of 1-10): Seven. The A’s likely won’t be swimming at the top of the pitching market, but they don’t need to: They just need some league-average arms to support that lineup. If they can find them … this looks very much like a .500 team. And maybe even better.
White Sox (60-102 in 2025)
Last winning season: 2021
What has gone wrong: Their 2024 season was one of the worst in baseball history. They last had a winning season when Tony La Russa was the manager, and that once-promising era of White Sox baseball never quite materialized like it seemed it would. Most of the team’s struggles since then have been a result of a rebuilding process that’s still ongoing.
What is going in the right direction: It sure might not look that way when you see that “102” number in the loss column up there, but last year was a massive improvement for the White Sox. They were 19 wins better in 2025, and that is nothing to slough off. And it has been exciting to see some of the young players they’ve been waiting on begin to make their way to the South Side, most notably shortstop Colson Montgomery, who was their best player last year and finished fifth in AL Rookie of the Year voting despite playing only 71 games. They’ve boosted their system through trades, too — Chase Meidroth, Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero and Miguel Vargas, all in their 20s like Montgomery, are here — and outfielder Braden Montgomery is next. It may still be a while, but there are flickers of light here.
What they need to fix: The White Sox don’t just have position players in their 20s: Their entire rotation, led by last offseason’s Rule 5 Draft pick Shane Smith, is full of twentysomethings, too. Or at least it was until the team reached an agreement Wednesday with 30-year-old lefty Anthony Kay to lure him back from Japan after two successful NPB seasons. Maybe one more mid-level free-agent arm to help fill innings will help, but the best thing the White Sox can do is let their young guys continue to marinate.
Chances the streak ends in 2026 (scale of 1-10): Two. Another improvement of 19 games would put them at 79-83, and they don’t look ready for that yet. But the building blocks for a winning team in 2027 are very much here, right now.
Nationals (66-96 in 2025)
Last winning season: 2019
What has gone wrong: It’s been a massive struggle for the Nats following their 2019 World Series title. And that’s despite having Juan Soto the three years after that and then trading him for a bounty of prospects who are currently the team’s next big stars. That they weren’t able to take advantage of that is why Mike Rizzo is no longer leading baseball operations in Washington.
What is going in the right direction: Four of the players they got for Soto — pitcher MacKenzie Gore, CJ Abrams and outfielders James Wood and Robert Hassell III — should be in the Opening Day lineup next year, barring a trade of Gore or Abrams this offseason. (Another piece acquired for Soto, hard-throwing righty Jarlin Susana, is still just 21 and the team’s No. 3 prospect, per MLB Pipeline. He could arrive in 2026.) Meanwhile, 2023 No. 2 overall pick Dylan Crews, who may end up better than all of them, will be in there, too. The entire projected lineup is 27 or younger, as is most of the rotation. The youth movement is here. Now it needs to percolate.
What they need to fix: Heck, even the new president of baseball operations (Paul Toboni, 35) and manager (Blake Butera, 33) are young here. The Nats aren’t starting over, though: They’re trying to make the talent they currently have pop. Some bullpen additions would help, too, after last year’s ‘pen finished last in the Majors with a 5.59 ERA.
Chances the streak ends in 2026 (scale of 1-10): Three. We’ve been waiting for “the year the Nats turn the corner” for a while now, and this division may be too strong for it to be 2026. But the raw material is certainly here.
Pirates (71-91 in 2025)
Last winning season: 2018
What has gone wrong: The Pirates’ best hitter over the past three seasons has been Bryan Reynolds, but the second best has very possibly been Andrew McCutchen. That worked in the 2010s, when Cutch was a perennial MVP candidate, but he’s now 39 and a DH. The Pirates have been solid at developing young pitching, but much less so with bats, and the spending that would have been needed to bring some in has not been there. They’ve actually been a little better than you might think the past few years, but it has still been nearly a decade since they finished higher than fourth in the NL Central.
What is going in the right direction: They’ve got this guy named Paul Skenes, and he is super good. The NL Cy Young Award winner’s career is off to one of the greatest starts in MLB history, and he is on record saying he thinks, terrifyingly, he has a lot of improvement left in front of him. He’s not alone in that rotation, by the way: Mitch Keller is a perfectly solid No. 2, and Bubba Chandler, their Minor League pitcher of the year last season, should be a fascinating No. 3 in 2026.
What they need to fix: Yeah, they need to get some hitters in here, and fast, to capitalize on having an elite, cost-controlled ace atop their rotation. They will probably have to spend to get some, but it would also help if Oneil Cruz would turn all those tools into results. He better hurry, too: He’s already 27.
Chances the streak ends in 2026 (scale of 1-10): Four. There have been rumblings that the Pirates will be more aggressive this offseason, but we’ll see if they follow through. But having Skenes take the mound every fifth day is the envy of the rest of baseball.
Rockies (43-119 in 2025)
Last winning season: 2018
What has gone wrong: Well, they lost 119 games last year, although after a truly nightmarish 13-57 (.186) start, they were 30-62 (.326) the rest of the way, which was only four games behind the Twins for the worst record in the Majors over that span. The Coors Field riddle, humidor or not, continues to vex the Rockies, and the organizational inertia — which they finally seem to have addressed — has always seemed to impede the necessary changes.
What is going in the right direction: You don’t need to watch “Moneyball” to know that Paul DePodesta comes with a strong résumé (in baseball, anyway) and, perhaps more important than anything else, a fresh perspective. By hiring him, the Rockies may have admitted that’s what they needed more than anything. Also, a lineup in a couple of years with Hunter Goodman, Ethan Holliday and Charlie Condon in it seems plenty promising.
What they need to fix: This is forever the Rockies’ conundrum, but for what it’s worth, the pitching was better than the hitting was last year. Maybe it’s time to get back to the Blake Street Bombers era?
Chances the streak ends in 2026 (scale of 1-10): One. You like the new voices that seem to be coming into the organization. But they’ll need a 19-game improvement like the White Sox just had to even get back to 100 losses. But the process has at last begun.
Angels (72-90 in 2025)
Last winning season: 2015
What has gone wrong: Well, Mike Trout has never won a playoff game: Let’s start with that. The Angels have tried to spend away their problems, and it keeps going badly for them. It is to their credit that they continue to try to win every year, that they never tear it down and start over, not as long as Trout is here. But it’s also not to their credit.
What is going in the right direction: There is more young talent here than you probably realize. You sure could do a lot worse than a young core of Nolan Schanuel, Zach Neto, Logan O’Hoppe and the finally-breaking-out Jo Adell. Trout hasn’t been able to stay healthy and isn’t a superstar anymore, but he is still Mike Trout. Even diminished, he had a 121 OPS+ last year.
What they need to fix: Pitching, pitching, pitching. It’s always pitching. The trade for Grayson Rodriguez and the signing of Alek Manoah show that they are ceding nothing, that they are still searching and striving to win, for better or worse. But seriously, more pitching.
Chances the streak ends in 2026 (scale of 1-10): Three. The division keeps getting better, which is a headache for them: They may have missed a window to sneak into second place. But that they are actively looking to add guys — well, they’re at least, perpetually, going for it.
