In the years I've been doing these month by month reflection posts, I've never seen the picture of a season change as dramatically as it had this season. We had stakes in April that were completely overhauled by a new breed of competitor, and teams so battered by injuries that they couldn't follow the path set out for them by previous years. And it culminated in one of the wildest Septembers in recent memory. So of course it's worth it to look back on what the hell went on there.
First, let's look at the 5 bold predictions I made last month:
1. At least one laughably humiliating breakdown from a team at this point expected to make the playoffs. THE NEW YORK METS. Absolutely, positively the Mets. The Astros could go in here as well.
2. Schwarber and Raleigh have some Sosa/McGwire style intrigue as they clobber further. I guess you could say this happened, though it was a bit subdued compared to Sosa and McGwire. Raleigh still got to 60 though, which is pretty huge.
3. At least one really good divisional series with serious stakes. Bunch of these actually. Guardians-Tigers had excellent moments, there was a great Reds-Brewers series, a Mariners-Stros one that cemented the Mariners' status. I forget if that last Phils-Mets series was this month but that too.
4. At least one rookie really gets people excited for 2026. I suppose Samuel Basallo counts. Had such a big aura around him that the O's locked him up over Rutschman. I guess Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat also go here.
5. One of the onlookers in the AL Wild Card race [Royals, Rangers, Guardians even] makes a Tigers-esque run. THE CLEVELAND GUARDIANS. Holy moly, what an amazing month they had.
And that ties directly into 5 things from September 2025 that nobody could have predicted:
1. The Guardians lap the Tigers. The lead that the Tigers had midyear that they managed to completely destroy over a month or so is going to be studied. It's not that anything in that team stopped working, it's just that the close games they were winning in the first half weren't getting won because instead of bringing on young talent the Tigers brought on 5 pitchers over 30 and none of them did what they were supposed to. I mean...I guess Kyle Finnegan did, but then he got hurt. Meanwhile, the Guardians suddenly clicked into an awesome rotation schematic of Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, Joey Cantillo, Slade Cecconi and Parker Messick and absolutely rolled into the playoffs. I saw the Guardians make a ton of mistakes midyear and have truly awful stretches, and something just clicked in a way that the Tigers couldn't this year. Them immediately having to play each other in the wild card series is gonna be pretty insane.
2. The Reds send the Mets to Cancun. I had...HOPED for the Mets to fall off, but I didn't think the Reds would be able to do it. Their team is scrappy, useful, but not fully developed. Elly wasn't hitting homers for 2 solid months. Abbott and Greene would blow a start right after soaring. But somehow, the Reds kept winning enough close matches, even against the Brewers, to stay in it, while the Mets just kept getting owned by people they were supposed to sweep. Once the Reds had the tiebreaker, and the leverage, nothing the Mets could do would have saved them. I don't know how WELL the Reds are gonna do against the Dodgers, but the fact that they could get there over the Mets, who had such a lead at one point, is something they should be proud of.
3. The Mariners come alive like never before. I had always said that if the Mariners tapped into their potential and played as well as they looked on paper, they'd be a playoff team. In September, this happened. After getting swept by the Rays and losing one to the Braves, the Mariners turned around and never looked back, winning 10 straight, then winning 7 straight, including a sweep of the Astros, sealing their fates. Suarez is finally taking off as a Mariner, Gilbert and Castillo have stepped up, Julio and Randy are still killing it and Raleigh hit 60. Not only are the Mariners in, they're a playoff threat, and I'm so happy to see it.
4. The Marlins become the ultimate spoilers. The Marlins surprised me this year by being a good team that just kept being too underdeveloped to be taken seriously. The formula of guys like Kyle Stowers, Xavier Edwards, Agustin Ramirez and eventually Heriberto Hernandez and Griffin Conine just finding new and different ways to get past pitching definitely works. And the fact that they eventually became wise to their own strengths and decided to get hot down the stretch and chase competitors made for a great finish. During their September run they took 2 from Detroit, swept the Rangers, and used Alcantara, Perez and Cabrera to land the final blow on the Mets' season. Imagine how good this team will look with everything finalized.
5. The Dodgers don't get a first round bye. In March this would have shocked people. But honestly, you can't have that many injuries and still be the best team in the league. It helped that Glasnow, Snell, Muncy and Sasaki returned for September and helped them outlast the Padres, but there was so much lost time due to those injury issues. It also doesn't help that Will Smith is probably out for a bit, and the bullpen is a complete mess at the moment. This Dodgers team is still ultimately the Dodgers, and could still dominate this year, but...they didn't finish the regular season as hugely as everyone thought.
And counterpoint to that, we also have 5 things from September 2025 that lots of people could have predicted:
1. The Yankees make it close for the division title. I don't think anybody was expecting the Yankees to completely lay down and die this year, this wasn't 2023. There was enough talent to get this team back into the mix, and with Grisham, Chisholm, Bellinger and Stanton all surging this month, it was always gonna be a possibility. Ultimately the midyear slide made it so that it was never gonna be enough to catch Toronto, but the Yankees were always gonna be a factor.
2. The Padres forget to make it close for the division title. The thing I noticed about the Padres this year is that they'd have these hot streaks, and then the second everyone noticed they were hot they'd respond by completely leveling out and trying to sweep it under the rug. They were always close to lapping the Dodgers and then they'd get to actually PLAY the Dodgers and it wouldn't come together. I'm assuming there's a chance they'll run into each other again if...things completely turn inward for both high seeded teams, but the Padres could have surprised people and just chose not to.
3. Alex Anthopolous wasn't gonna let this year end without trying as much crap as possible. Here is a list of all the waiver claimed players that came to Atlanta in the last three months. Erick Fedde, Vidal Brujan, Ha-Seong Kim, Stuart Fairchild, Jake Fraley, Brett Wisely, Joey Wentz, Carlos Carrasco, Dane Dunning, Cal Quantrill, Joel Payamps, Alexis Diaz, Alek Manoah, and finally Charlie Morton. That is a lot of people. Many of them, like Kim and Manoah especially, might be in the mix for next season. Several more contributed to the late season swell that saw a random 10-game winning streak. If the Braves are awesome again next year, it's cause Anthopolous never stops working.
4. Paul Skenes is going to win the Cy Young award. Not even Cristopher Sanchez can come close. Dude's just on another level. Shame about the team though.
5. Once they actually have a good rotation, the Orioles are a halfway decent baseball team. Bradish and Wells came back, Rogers straightened out, Kremer and Sugano got over the hump, and somehow this is a team that can win the close games again. I really hope Mansolino keeps his job, as he seemed to be the main force that turned the team around this year, aside from everybody getting healthy again.
Now, here are my picks for the 5 most important players of September 2025:
1. Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners
2. Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates
3. Hunter Greene, Cincinnati Reds
4. Garrett Crochet, Boston Red Sox
5. Nolan McLean, New York Mets
And finally, 5 bold predictions for this coming postseason
1. Some wild card team gets insanely hot and drives the narrative for a while.
2. Someone who is not going to win the Cy Young has some incredible moments that makes some sportswriters second-guess themselves during voting [I call this the Corey Kluber in 2016 factor]
3. A perennial postseason thumper does something crazy again. Y'know, a Giancarlo or a Schwarber or a Muncy, someone like that.
4. This one's really bold: we went the whole season without a no-hitter but someone pitches one in October.
5. The team that wins the World Series is one who hasn't won it lately, or at all, and truly deserves it. Maybe wishful thinking there but sue me.
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