The best thing about Spring Training is hope. It’s the idea that anything can happen, that the renewal that spring brings can wash off the struggles of the past and bring us something new, and potentially wonderful. It’s about hope.
It’s about all your players coming into camp in the best shape of their lives, it’s about every team being tied for first place, it’s about the season being fresh and new and full of infinite possibilities. It is, more than anything else, about optimism.
So, as we head into that special week when pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training — they’ll start showing up Tuesday! — let’s lean into that glass-half-full feeling. Here are some best-case scenarios that we want to see happen, people and teams taking their best steps forward. Here’s to hope!
Elly De La Cruz has that long-awaited monster season
Is there anyone in Major League Baseball who, when you look at him, appears more born to play the game than De La Cruz? (OK, besides Shohei Ohtani.) Elly can do everything, and he can seemingly do it all in a way that no one else can. He has ridiculous power, lighting speed, a monster arm and, don’t forget, a smile that reminds you how truly joyous it can be to play — and watch — this game.
And there are moments when it all comes together, and you wonder if he’s the best player you’ve ever seen. But then you add it all up — his reluctance to walk, the frequent strikeouts, the shocking number of mistakes in the field (he has led MLB in errors two straight years) — and it has yet to quite come together in the MVP season we all know he can, and should, have at some point.
There were good signs last year: The strikeout rate dropped a little, he played every game (despite a nagging left quad injury that clearly hindered him) and he did hit for a slightly better average. But the errors remained, and he actually hit fewer homers and stole (a lot) fewer bases. Before we get too impatient, though, this is a player who only turned 24 in January, so, obviously, there’s more growth to come. But someday he’s going to absolutely take over this game. Right? This would be a great year to start.
Our Cy Young Award winners do it again
There are so many young pitchers to be excited about in this game, but if you’re looking for eventual historical resonance, you want the sense that we are watching players at their peaks whom we’ll be talking about the rest of our lives. There’s little question that’s what you’re getting with the 2025 Cy Young winners: Detroit’s Tarik Skubal and Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes.
They were both incredible in 2025, but if they can repeat that in ‘26, or even be better, we’ll be talking about something truly special. The only pair of Cy winners to both repeat the feat the next season is Randy Johnson and Pedro Martínez in 1999-2000. Skenes still has a career ERA under 2.00, and if he can keep it there after another season, it will be a Martínez-like run.
Meanwhile, if Skubal can win his third Cy Young in a row, he’ll be the first pitcher to do that since Johnson (1999-2001) and, essentially, secure his spot in Cooperstown. The only pitchers to win three Cy Youngs who aren’t in the Hall of Fame are Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw (retired), who will almost certainly be there five years after they call it quits, and Roger Clemens.
You want to witness brilliance on a baseball field, and these two bring it — every night. Here’s believing they’ll do it again for us.
The rehabbing pitchers all come back blazing
Two former Cy Young winners, and one guy who has finished second twice, are all in various stages of the rehab process. They should all return at some point this year. The first is probably the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole, who had his Tommy John surgery in March 2025. Manager Aaron Boone said last week that he won’t be rushed back, but there’s every reason to think he’ll return in the first half.
The Braves finally get that healthy season
No one knows injuries better than the Braves. Two years ago, coming off back-to-back seasons of more than 100 wins, they looked like they were ready to dominate the National League East for years to come. But they’ve been absolutely ravaged by health woes since, to star players and role players alike. Their injury report has been mostly indistinguishable from their actual roster, and in 2025 those issues contributed significantly to a 76-86 campaign that kept Atlanta out of the playoffs for the first time since 2017.
But the Braves are very hopeful that everyone will be full-go this year, from Spencer Schwellenbach to Ozzie Albies to Sean Murphy to Austin Riley to Reynaldo López to, most important, Ronald Acuña Jr., who has played a combined 144 games over the past two seasons. This division keeps leveling up, and injuries have made it impossible for Atlanta to keep up. A grand three-team race between the Mets, Phillies and Braves is one of the best gifts fans could get this year. It will require, at last, some Atlanta injury luck.
We get an out-of-nowhere playoff team
Indiana won the College Football Playoff. Nebraska has a Final Four-quality basketball team. The Patriots (but not the Brady Patriots) were in Sunday’s Super Bowl. Baseball could use a team to jump up and shock the world, no? My primary candidates:
Or it could be someone I’m not even thinking of right now. Either way, fresh blood is always appreciated. If baseball gets its own version of Indiana football in 2026, it’ll make for a fun story.
The World Baseball Classic gives us another Ohtani-versus-Trout-like moment
It’s not too much to expect something like that again, is it? It can take a different form — how about Skenes pitching to Shohei? That would work! — but the glory of the WBC is that it gets the best players in baseball facing off in an All-Star Game format that is deeply personal for everyone playing. Stars vs. stars, but desperate to win. That’s the good stuff. Let’s get one more moment like that. Actually, let’s get several.
A postseason that can live up to last year’s
The 2025 World Series was, obviously, amazing. But really, the whole postseason was. (That Blue Jays-Mariners American League Championship Series was mind blowing on its own.) October was so incredible that it almost made the whole offseason breeze by. That’s what baseball history is: late nights in October that you’ll never forget. Let’s get greedy. Let’s get some more.
