One reason to bandwagon every MLB team in 2026

Happy Opening Day everyone.

As promised, special edition today: One reason to bandwagon / root for / be interested in every MLB team. Some special guests lent me their creative powers of fandom, as you’ll see noted throughout.

Enjoy.

Los Angeles Dodgers, by Mia Sato, reporter for The Verge: I love an underdog story, but there's also satisfaction in watching what feels inevitable actually happen. Being at the top means wins are ecstatic and losses are crushing. Anyone who’s even marginally interested in sports should go see Ohtani play at least once — you won’t be alone. Dodgers fans travel.

San Francisco Giants, by Sam Miller, writer of Pebble Hunting: After the 2010 World Series ended, and the Giants’ broadcasters did their post-game radio wrap, Duane Kuiper signed off with what I consider the greatest broadcaster call ever. He said: "Next broadcast: we don't care. First pitch: we don't care." I don’t know how much longer we’re going to get the Krukow & Kuiper Best Friends Show, but they do fewer and fewer games every year, travel less and less, and it feels like a miracle each time they re-up for a new season. If it’s ever their last year, I’m pleading for them to get to sign off as champions.

Arizona Diamondbacks: There’s something heartening about the pitching staff that essentially doomed a promising team last year taking a mulligan. Sure, supply and demand made this happen, not a movie script. But I nonetheless will be fascinated to watch Zac Gallen (back after a sojourn in free agency), Merrill Kelly (back after a sojourn in Texas), Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson try to reestablish the rotation as a winner.

San Diego Padres, by John Gennaro, writer, podcaster and former producer of The Bandwagon podcast: The Padres are handing their superstar-heavy roster over to Craig Stammen after Mike Shildt walked away from the team. Stammen, a middle reliever for the Padres as recently as 2022, has never managed at any level. If they are able to make the playoffs again, it could open up a world of opportunities for recently retired relief pitchers.

Colorado Rockies, by Patrick Dubuque, Baseball Prospectus managing editor and brave anthropologist of the Rockies experience: Unlike most murder mysteries, Columbo welcomes the viewer to watch the crime play out in the opening scene; the mystery is piecing together how the titular detective springs the inevitable trap. The Rockies are their own form of true crime. We all know how it ends, and we get to spend six months watching the realization dawn.

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Milwaukee Brewers, by Jonathan Judge of Baseball Prospectus: Last year, as Sam Miller documented, the Brewers made teams forget how to throw to first base, and rode it to the most wins in baseball. What bizarre new trend will they exploit for seven free wins this year?

Chicago Cubs: The world changed right after the Cubs won the World Series in 2016 and maybe it’s like an unplug it, plug it back in situation. Maybe they have to win again to fix things. It’s at least worth a shot!

Cincinnati Reds: Elly De La Cruz playing baseball is a sight to behold. If he went full 2023 Acuña and put up 40 homers and 50 steals for a contending team, that … would be an even crazier sight to behold. This is raw, obvious entertainment factor.

Pittsburgh Pirates, by Rob Mains of Baseball Prospectus: Paul Skenes headlines a rotation with top-15 prospect Bubba Chandler, hard-throwing Braxton Ashcraft, workhorse Mitch Keller, second-half star Carmen Mlodzinski, and Jared Jones’ return from elbow surgery. Add all-or-nothing Oneil Cruz and No. 1 prospect Konnor Griffin and it’s the most watchable Pirates team in over a decade. Also, PNC Park.

St. Louis Cardinals, by Will Leitch, sports writer and novelist: After spending most of my life with everybody hating my team, it’s kind of a relief, albeit a disorienting one, to have no one really care about us: To be, at last, in the AL Central Zone Of Coastal Irrelevance. It won’t be long until JJ Wetherholt (and Chaim Bloom) change all that. It’s nice to be a growth stock again. Is this how Rays fans always feel?

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New York Mets: Freddy Peralta, Francisco Alvarez and Francisco Lindor are going to teach the world, or at least Mets fans, to smile. The Mets have a new mix of faces, and the talent level should give them a huge opportunity to reset the mood in Queens.

Philadelphia Phillies, by Hannah Keyser, CNN sports writer and co-founder of this very newsletter: Initially, I found the news cycle(s) that followed Dave Dombrowski’s clear-eyed assessment of Bryce Harper’s 2025 season to be irksome in their seeming bad faith. I like Dombrowski’s unbothered honesty as an exec and his comments didn’t seem especially out of line. But Harper himself was clearly affected — maybe offended or motivated on purpose or motivated unintentionally or all of the above. By the time the WBC was underway, I was referencing eliteness as it pertained to Harper all the damn time.

And now, almost in spite of myself, one of the storylines I’m most invested in this season is Harper and, to literally quote Dombrowski, “can he rise to that next level again?”

If he is, in fact, not as elite as he once was at 33 in his 15th major league season, that will not hurt his career earnings or likely even his eventual Hall of Fame case. My fascination is less about Bryce Harper as a baseball player and more about Bryce Harper as a person (and maybe about the merits of various pseudoscience efforts at longevity). Forget what he said about being unbothered (which unbothered people don’t bother saying), after a career spent living up to sky-high expectations he now has a chance to do something different: exceed them. And I want him to, if only because the other option is that no amount of motivation is a match for being in your mid-30s.

Atlanta Braves, by Demetrius Bell of Battery Power: If you like hitting and not a lot else, the Braves are your team. The starting pitching (and bad injury luck) may be this team’s Achilles heel but with Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olson, Austin Riley and Drake Baldwin in tow, there’ll be dingers for days while watching this team.

Miami Marlins: They’re the longest shot in the field with a real chance to shock the world.

Washington Nationals: With a young, forward-thinking new front office and coaching staff in place, the whole season is going to be the sports movie montage where a bumbling group of untrained kids does drills and learns skills and comes out on the other side looking competent. Fire up “Eye of the Tiger” and watch progress in real time.

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Seattle Mariners: Because more than most years, this could be The Year.

Houston Astros, by Gwen Howerton, Chron Texas culture reporter: Did you love Team Italy's WBC run? Zach Dezenzo, one of the Astros' top prospects, played for Italy, and the team has other Paisans in pitcher Spencer Arrighetti and OF Joey Loperfido. If you can get past the sign-stealing, there are some really fun guys on this team.

Texas Rangers, by Mike Piellucci, D Magazine sports editor: Jacob deGrom and Corey Seager. Corey Seager and Jacob deGrom. For all this roster’s faults, and for all ownership’s stinginess, Texas’ rotation and lineup are each anchored by Hall of Fame-caliber talents operating near the peak of their powers. Now we’ll see how high they can lift up their teammates.

Sacramento A’s: Offense go brrr. This squad looks like Texas Tech’s football team circa Patrick Mahomes. The A’s of Nick Kurtz, Tyler Soderstrom and Brent Rooker will win by outscoring you, maybe often enough to put some fear into the thought of going to Sacramento.

Los Angeles Angels, by Ginny Searle, Baseball Prospectus editor: Mike Trout is once more a center fielder, regardless of what me, you, or literally anyone outside of a small, cursed lot off the 57 freeway thinks about it. Is that smart? No. Worth watching? More than anything else the Angels have done lately.

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Detroit Tigers: Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity, To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment, Would you capture it or just let it slip?

Cleveland Guardians, by Scott Hines, author of Action Cookbook: They’re not supposed to win, but they do anyway. That’s no defense of an ownership that won’t spend, but instead of Jose Ramirez and a cast of what Cleveland fans affectionately term “slap-hitting shit goblins” winning 10-15 more games than experts thought they would. They make no mathematical sense.

Kansas City Royals: The world was introduced to Vinnie Pasquantino and found a lovable ringleader caffeinated out of his mind. Add that energy to shortened fences, Bobby Witt Jr. and WBC MVP Maikel Garcia, and this is the sneaky bandwagon team of the year.

Minnesota Twins, by Aaron Gleeman, Twins senior writer at The Athletic: This should be a transition season for the Twins’ lineup, with 22-year-old standout sophomore Luke Keaschall probably being joined by top prospects Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Kaelen Culpepper, and Gabriel Gonzalez at some point this summer to form the Twins’ future hitting core. No matter how this season unfolds, it’ll be easy to look ahead to a brighter offensive future.

Chicago White Sox: Have you ever wondered about questions such as, “What if Joey Gallo played a competent shortstop?” or “What if a former NPB MVP morphed into Joey Gallo?” I have the team for you.

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New York Yankees: There’s a hill every baseball player tries to climb every year. When they get to the top, they plant a flag and savor their accomplishment. They commune with the others — in body and in spirit — who have reached the pinnacle. They count themselves among that group, lifted and motivated by its members, and they return to the bottom to try again. But no one gets there alone. As the years and the ascents pile up, the first glimpse of the peak changes. The victors begin to notice whose flag is missing. The club is somehow a little less hallowed and a little more hollow for the knowledge that Aaron Judge hasn’t made it yet. If he can’t get here, did I really deserve it? They peer down the slope, preoccupied with a question no one can answer, wishing it had a definitive answer.

Toronto Blue Jays, by Blake Murphy of Sportsnet: Toronto enter their 50th season with more momentum than they’ve had since 1993 – hitters fueled by friendship, pitchers led by the ever-intense Max Scherzer, probably one too many mustaches, and the best collection of giveaway nights in the league. A chance to avenge their loss to the evil Dodgers beckons.

Boston Red Sox, by Maddie Landis, writer at Baseball Prospectus and TalkSox: The Red Sox’s walk-up songs will have you jamming in your seat. Lead-off hitter Roman Anthony sets the tone with MGMT’s “Electric Feel”, a nod to the early 2010s era of radio-friendly indie pop. Ranger Suárez’s “Mr. Rager” is a playful pun on his name. (You can never go wrong with Kid Cudi.) Every time I hear Aroldis Chapman stride out of the bullpen to Celia Cruz, I consider enrolling in the nearest salsa class. Give these guys the aux!

Baltimore Orioles, by Alex Fast, of MLB: Why should you root for the Orioles? Because the last time that they won a playoff game, Barack Obama was the president of the United States. More seriously: the pieces are all in place. The core has been there and for arguably the first time in Baby Birds history, there’s more around the core. The addition of Pete Alonso, Taylor Ward, Shane Baz and Chris Bassitt signal that the Front Office knows what’s at stake. They know they didn’t live up to expectations, they know we’re in the middle of the window and they know the time to win is now. Why not tune in to see if they’re right?

Tampa Bay Rays, by Davy Andrews, FanGraphs writer: I was tempted to get cute here, to FanGraphs it up and talk defensive positioning. This is no time for cuteness. We’re talking beefy boys. Last year, corner infielders Yandy Díaz and Junior Caminero combined for 70 homers and a listed 455 pounds). Hop on for thick men flattening baseballs.

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