Boyd joined the Cubs last season, making the All-Star Game for the first time in his career. He had a 3.21 ERA and 3.4 fWAR, both the best marks he has ever posted. One of the most impressive aspects of his 2025 campaign was Boyd's health. He had struggled to stay on the field in past years, throwing just 201.5 innings between 2021 and 2024.
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Reliever Brock Stewart continues to progress in his recovery from shoulder surgery last September. He threw another bullpen session Tuesday, his second using his full pitch mix. Stewart still has to progress through multiple bullpen sessions to facing hitters in live batting practice and then getting into games on a minor-league injury-rehabilitation assignment. But he is on track to return in the first half of the season.
After a dreadful season in 2024 the sentiment towards Isaiah Drake swung rapidly red, and even following an impressive 2025 his national reputation is still trying to recover. Drake was awful in 2024, but with the combination of his age and the injuries that riddled that season it was not a huge surprise that he bounced back in 2025.
Pogacar made his decisive move just as he had done two years ago on the Monte Sante Marie gravel section. His UAE Team Emirates colleagues had put the hammer down heading into that section and once Pogacar attacked on a tough climb, he quickly distanced everyone else. Seixas was the rider who resisted the longest even briefly dragging back Pogacar before the world champion accelerated again and disappeared over the horizon for good.
A third-round pick in 2023, he was getting a lot of positive buzz in training camp and flashed his potential in the early preseason games. But a torn ACL ended his rookie year before it could really begin, pushing his regular-season debut until Week 1 of the following season.
Vlad Guerrero Jr., he always looks good... That man is motivated. That man, as we saw in the postseason, the entire world got a glimpse of what Toronto fans already knew. He is not just a hitter. He is not just a power hitter... He is an above-average defender at first base, and he is an excellent baserunner, as well.
It almost seems unfair to include Ohtani on this list. At times, it feels as if he belongs in a category all his own. He has claimed four MVPs in the past five seasons, all of them unanimously. And now, somehow, the thought is that Ohtani can elevate to an even higher level.
The main problem is a phenomenon known as turbo-lag, which manifests itself as delayed acceleration when the driver hits the throttle. Turbo-lag exists because turbocharged engines need to produce enough exhaust gas pressure to spin the turbo before it can deliver the power advantage of compressed air to the engine.
After the first game, I said if you play against the best team in the world at this moment, for us, I need to be honest, it's not a realistic game to show we are soldiers or we are not soldiers. That's the truth, but they show they can be in some parts of the game. For long periods in the game, we had problems, in defence especially.
Shane is the best, and it isn't particularly close, road course racer in the Cup Series currently. He won the remaining five road courses last season, all in fairly dominant fashion, oftentimes not going all-out until necessary. Thus, it's no surprise to see him as the DuraMax Grand Prix favorite with odds hovering around EVEN money.
Bohm, 29, will be playing out his final season of club control in 2026. The former No. 3 overall pick looked like a star early on, when he debuted with a sensational .338/.400/.481 slash in 44 games as a rookie back in 2020. He's settled in as more of a league-average bat in the five years since that time, hitting a combined .275/.323/.411 (101 wRC+) in 2769 plate appearances dating back to 2021.
Quinn is a respected leader who's never lost the locker room, even amid such a disastrous campaign. That's arguably the biggest reason why he's not feeling the heat right now, although he also earned enough good graces last season to get the benefit of the doubt. There is no denying that Quinn has made mistakes this season. The injuries haven't helped, but the momentum is evaporating rapidly. The leash is tighter, and the margin for error is diminishing,
