There are still a few days left in the regular season and a couple of playoff spots up for grabs, but let’s hand out some final regular-season team grades. A few of these could change depending on who makes the playoffs and who doesn’t, but with the majority of 2024 in the rearview mirror, we can grade with a good degree of certainty.

Teams are graded against their preseason expectations but also on criteria such as: Did they improve from last season? Did they show some positive development with young players? Did the front office moves in the offseason or at the trade deadline work out?

Let’s get right to it, starting with our highest grades.

Jump to a team:

American League
BAL | BOS | CHW | CLE | DET
HOU | KC | LAA | MIN | NYY
OAK | SEA | TB | TEX | TOR

National League
ARI | ATL | CHC | CIN | COL
LAD | MIA | MIL | NYM | PHI
PIT | SD | SF | STL | WSH

The Brewers won their third division title in four years and fourth in the past seven — they haven’t had a losing season (not counting the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign) since 2016 — in a year when that wasn’t necessarily expected to happen. They lost manager Craig Counsell to the division-rival Cubs and replaced him with bench coach Pat Murphy. They traded ace Corbin Burnes right before the start of spring training, a signal that maybe this would be a step-back season. Closer Devin Williams wasn’t active until July due to a back injury and then Christian Yelich, the team’s best hitter who was having his best season in years, went down in July.

It would have been easy for things to fall apart, but they didn’t. The organization made a lot of smart decisions along the way. The Brewers didn’t panic when 20-year-old Jackson Chourio struggled the first two months, instead sticking with him and watching him mature into a great player over the remainder of the season. General manager Matt Arnold bolstered the rotation with in-season trades for Aaron Civale and Frankie Montas. The Brewers didn’t trade Willy Adames and he drove in over 100 runs. They caught the ball, ran the bases, the starters exceeded expectations and, as usual, the bullpen was clutch. The Brewers have established a winning culture; they expect to win now. Don’t overlook them in October.

Last week, in a crucial game against the Twins, rookie Kyle Manzardo hit a go-ahead, two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning that would give the Guardians a 4-3 victory. The win moved first-year manager Stephen Vogt to tears after the game, saying, “I love these guys. They’re so much fun to watch, they love each other, they work hard.” Is there a better summation of this team?

As with the Brewers, it would have been easy for things to fall apart, especially when Shane Bieber went down for the season after two starts. The key, of course, was a dominant bullpen — one of the best we’ve ever seen — with Emmanuel Clase closing things down with his unhittable 101-mph cutter. Andres Gimenez and Brayan Rocchio formed perhaps the best up-the-middle defensive combo and, of course, Jose Ramirez remained the rock in the middle of the lineup en route to yet another top-10 MVP finish. With this bullpen, don’t overlook the Guardians in October. The Brewers rank 20th in payroll and the Guardians 21st. How about a former AL East, small-market World Series matchup?

A couple of weeks ago, when they had a shot at winning the division, this could have been an A+. Then, with a wild-card spot at least secure, it was still an A. Now, with the playoffs suddenly in jeopardy as the offense has forgotten how to hit, it drops to an A-. Still, the Royals will have one of the biggest year-to-year improvements we’ve witnessed in MLB history after they finished 56-106 in 2023. They hadn’t been bad for just one year either; they had the worst overall record since 2018.

Their 2024 success starts with shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. having arguably the greatest season in Royals history — only George Brett’s .390 season in 1980 compares among position players and Witt looks like he’ll edge past him in WAR. Don’t forget this all began in early February when Kansas City locked up its franchise player with an 11-year, $288 million contract. (Although Witt can opt out starting after 2030.)

The rotation was among the best in the game, with Seth Lugo turning in a top-three Cy Young performance and Royals starters improving from 25th in the majors in innings pitched to second. The starters needed to carry the load because the bullpen was a little erratic for most of the season. The offense was surprisingly effective, although lacking in depth behind Witt, Salvador Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino — and it has obviously missed Pasquantino (fractured right thumb) during this slump. It’s been such a fun season in K.C. — let’s hope it doesn’t end as a big downer.

For the most part, it has been a fun season for the Phillies: They won more games than either of the past two seasons and captured their first NL East title since 2011. They still have a chance at the best overall record, too — although, they could also slip behind the Dodgers and Brewers and into the dreaded wild-card series. After a great first half (62-34), the second half has been a bit of a slog and their lack of any production from their fifth starter could ruin their chances at that top seed. Still, this is the most well-rounded of these recent Phillies teams, with a better rotation and a deeper bullpen thanks to trade acquisition Carlos Estevez giving them a legit closer behind a stellar group of setup guys. If Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber do what they’ve done in previous postseasons, this might be the year.

The season got off to a blazing start when the Yankees swept a four-game series in Houston, and by June 6, they were 45-19, on pace for 114 wins. Remember, Aaron Judge hit just .207 in April and Gerrit Cole didn’t make his first start until June 19 — and the Yankees were still dominating. The pitching, which was red-hot early on, cooled off and it has been a grind for much of the past three months, with some shoddy defense, baserunning and closing from Clay Holmes along the way. Judge and Juan Soto, of course, have been the most spectacular offensive duo since Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and, at times, felt like a two-man team. Two other key contributors have been Luis Gil, the team’s most consistent starter, and Luke Weaver, who had a workhorse season out of the bullpen. It looks like the Yankees will hold off Baltimore in the AL East after missing the playoffs last season. They’ll likely go as far as Judge and Soto can carry them.

The Padres had a losing April and were just 50-49 at the All-Star break but turned it on in the second half — enough to even put some pressure on the Dodgers for the division crown. The pitching got a lot better as the rotation lowered its ERA by more than half a run and the bullpen, with help from GM A.J. Preller’s aggressive additions at the deadline, lowered its ERA by more than a run. Dylan Cease, another big addition right at the end of spring training, pitched a no-hitter and had a three-start stretch where he allowed just two hits.

The offense also got much better, with much of that coming from Manny Machado, who increased his OPS nearly 200 points in the second half while driving in almost a run per game. Rookie Jackson Merrill hit over .300 after the break and delivered numerous late-game clutch hits. Indeed, the decision to move him from shortstop, where he played in the minors, to center field proved to be one of the key decisions for any team this season, especially with how Merrill excelled on defense (95th percentile in Statcast’s outs above average). With the new, deeper bullpen and a locked-in Machado, the Padres appear ready for October.

On Aug. 12, the Tigers were six games under .500 — and 11½ games behind the Twins. Their late-season surge suddenly has them looking like a wild-card team, especially since they finish the regular season at home against the hapless White Sox. The pitching has been outstanding during this run, and it hasn’t just been Tarik Skubal, who is going to win the AL Cy Young Award. Manager A.J. Hinch has done a masterful job of using openers, and guys such as Tyler Holton and Brant Hurter have been huge. Remember, the Tigers have done this without Jack Flaherty, who had a 2.95 ERA with them but was traded away at the deadline.

The offense actually hasn’t been any better during this stretch than throughout the season, but it has managed to scrape together just enough runs. The Tigers are eighth in the AL in runs, which would be their highest finish since 2016. They’ve worked in some promising young players such as Colt Keith and Trey Sweeney (who came over in the Flaherty trade) to go alongside Riley Greene (still just 23 years old) and Parker Meadows (24). After years of irrelevancy — this is the first winning season since 2016 — Detroit is on the rise and, if momentum matters, could be an October sleeper.

What a wild ride it’s been for the Mets. A miserable May dropped them 11 games under .500. Then things clicked. They won 12 out of 14 starting June 12 and followed that up with 11 wins in 14 games around the All-Star break. Suddenly, they were back in the wild-card picture. They went to Seattle in early August and got swept, however, scoring one run in three games and losing 12-1 on “Sunday Night Baseball.” It looked like the fun was over. Then the Mets won nine in a row starting in late August and even made the Phillies sweat a little bit.

It wasn’t any one thing. The rotation, minus Kodai Senga, doesn’t strike out a ton of guys, but it’s been effective. Sean Manaea lowered his arm slot around the middle of the season and raised his game. David Peterson has been excellent. Jose Quintana has been solid. Mark Vientos replaced Brett Baty and gave the Mets premium production at third base. And most of all, Francisco Lindor, after a slow start, started hitting and played great defense — and now he looks like the possible MVP runner-up to Shohei Ohtani. The Mets still have to get in, but they have the best record in the majors since June 12, and that makes them dangerous for October.

The Diamondbacks earn an A for fun, but a B for the results — although that grade will go up if they do end up as a wild-card team. After last year’s surprise run to the World Series, the Diamondbacks also earn plaudits for increasing payroll and, you know, trying to get better — really, the only midmarket team to do that. The big moves were signing Jordan Montgomery and Eduardo Rodriguez to bolster a thin rotation; the secondary moves were signing Joc Pederson and trading for Eugenio Suarez (they also re-signed Lourdes Gurriel Jr.). Oddly, they’re not necessarily better for the reasons they might have thought: Montgomery, who signed late, has an ERA over 6.00 and only recently rejoined the rotation after a spell in the bullpen; Rodriguez is back now but has spent most of the season on the injured list; and throw in an injury to Merrill Kelly and the rotation hasn’t been a strength.

But that offense: It’s been the best in the majors by a significant margin. This will be the first Diamondbacks team to lead the NL in runs since 2002 — after ranking seventh in 2023 — and the first to lead the majors. After sitting 49-48 at the All-Star break, the offense exploded in the second half as Corbin Carroll finally found his swing, and Suarez has been among the MLB leaders in home runs and RBIs. Ketel Marte should end up in the top five in MVP voting while Pederson, Christian Walker and Jake McCarthy have also excelled. The D-backs can hit. Now they just need the rotation and bullpen to get hot at the right time, just like a year ago.

The dynasty is bending, but it’s not yet broken. The Astros looked lost the first couple of months of the season and fell 10 games behind Seattle on June 18. The rotation was hobbled and those who were healthy weren’t pitching well. The offense was scuffling. Luckily, Houston was in the AL West and the Mariners and Rangers failed to meet expectations. The Astros righted the ship, even with Kyle Tucker injured, as Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown got hot, Alex Bregman broke out from a slow start and Yordan Alvarez kicked into Superman mode (.347/.443/.648 from June through August). This isn’t the same powerhouse team that won the World Series with 106 wins in 2022, but it’s good enough to win it all. Tucker is back, and the Astros are 9-0 in games that deadline acquisition Yusei Kikuchi has started. They will be seeking their eighth straight trip to the ALCS. I’m not betting against them.

On the one hand, they’re going to make the playoffs. That’s good! On the other hand, they’re going to win about 10 fewer games than last season, it looks like the Yankees will take the division, and it’s been a mediocre slog since early July, when the Orioles were on pace to win 104 games. This has raised a lot of doom and gloom from Orioles fans.

“You go back to like the middle of 2022, this group of players more or less, and we’re one of the winningest teams in baseball since then, and now within the span of a few months it’s gotten away from us, and we’re going through a trying time,” GM Mike Elias told reporters last week in what sounded like an end-of-season eulogy.

Certainly, injuries have played a key factor here — Corbin Burnes has been the only starter to post all season. Injuries to Jordan Westburg, Jorge Mateo, Ryan Mountcastle and Ramon Urias tested the infield depth, although that was supposed to be a strength. Touted rookies Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo have both struggled. Adley Rutschman has played through injury issues and had a miserable second half (OPS under .600). Zach Eflin has proved to be an excellent deadline pickup, but that hasn’t been the case for Eloy Jimenez and Trevor Rogers. Craig Kimbrel? Yeah, that was probably an ill-advised roll of the dice in the first place and now the ninth inning rests in the hands of Seranthony Dominguez. In the end, the Orioles still have Gunnar Henderson, Anthony Santander has mashed 43 home runs, and they should get a couple of the injured position players back. But it certainly feels like they peaked in May.

The Twins were pretty big favorites to win the AL Central — 16 of our 26 MLB experts picked them to win the division in our preseason predictions — so their struggles in September just to win the final wild card after being in a playoff position most of the season have to be viewed as, if not exactly a disaster, certainly a disheartening finish. But maybe not a surprise. With ownership cutting payroll significantly in the offseason, the front office didn’t have much flexibility. Once again, Carlos Correa, Royce Lewis and Byron Buxton all battled various injuries — although they played well when they were available. This grade goes up if the Twins get in — but drops way down if they miss October.

Hey, the Dodgers are held to a different standard — especially after committing more than $1 billion in the offseason to Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow. As exhilarating as Ohtani’s 50/50 season has been, the Dodgers are headed to their worst winning percentage since 2018, even as they hold on for their 11th NL West title in 12 years and 12th consecutive playoff appearance. That’s nice, but they will also be heading into the postseason with a banged-up and uncertain rotation — yet again. And for a franchise where it’s World Series or bust, we have to hedge on this grade as a result.

On one hand, the Pirates are going to win about the same number of games as last season, so there wasn’t any real progress in the win column. On the other hand, there were obvious positives: 2023 top overall pick Paul Skenes came up and immediately became one of the best starters and most recognizable players in the game; and fellow rookie Jared Jones emerged as a potential top-of-the-rotation starter. Bubba Chandler could also give them a third power right-hander in 2025 after a breakout season in the upper minors.

But there were also setbacks. Oneil Cruz had a solid enough offensive season as he returned from the broken ankle, but late in the season, the Pirates moved him off shortstop to center field — which should solve the hole in center but now opens one up at short, with no good replacement on hand. Ke’Bryan Hayes had a miserable season at the plate and one of the team’s few good hitters was 37-year-old Andrew McCutchen. That was a nice story, but they need to develop some young hitters to go with what could be a stellar rotation in 2025.

The Nationals won’t win many more games than they did last season, but while last year’s team probably overachieved just to win 71 games, this club showed a lot more promise. Let’s be honest here: The young core needs to get a lot better before the Nationals start thinking about the postseason. Luis Garcia Jr. and CJ Abrams both added some pop but need to get on base more (and Abrams had a rough second half, culminating with a demotion to the minors after spending a night in a Chicago casino). James Wood flashed his power potential but has to learn how to tap into it. Dylan Crews is talented but a work in progress.

Still, Garcia is the oldest of the group at 24, so it’s an exciting foundation to dream on. It will be fascinating to see what the Nationals do in the offseason: Will they view 2025 as another rebuilding year or perhaps close enough to playoff contention to make a couple of big moves in free agency?

The off-field situation remains a mess, but the on-field team was much better with development successes and breakout performances from the likes of closer Mason Miller, outfielders Lawrence Butler and JJ Bleday and catcher Shea Langeliers. Shortstop Jacob Wilson, last year’s first-round pick, reached the majors and DH Brent Rooker was a top-10 hitter in the majors (although he’s not as young as the other guys). Keep an eye on Butler, who thrived after a midseason mechanical tweak to his swing and was one of the best hitters in the majors in the second half. His 22-game hitting streak was the longest by an A’s player since 2003. The rotation and overall depth still need a lot of work, but the team appears to be trending in the right direction.

Using injuries as an excuse is generally pretty lame, but the Braves lost not only the reigning MVP in Ronald Acuña Jr. for most of the season but the Cy Young favorite in Spencer Strider. Throw in significant missed time for Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II and that’s a lot to overcome. Those are star players getting injured, not run-of-the-mill guys. Still, injuries alone don’t explain the offense dropping more than 200 runs, from best in the majors last season to below average in 2024. Injured or not, all the regulars except Marcell Ozuna declined significantly from 2023.

The pitching staff actually held up just fine without Strider, as likely Cy Young winner Chris Sale turned into the best trade acquisition of the offseason while Reynaldo Lopez was a huge surprise as well. The Braves still have a shot at the wild card here in the final days, and with Sale and Max Fried fronting a rotation with a deep bullpen, they have a puncher’s chance in the playoffs. Regardless, it’s certainly been a letdown after consecutive 100-win seasons.

Boston hung close most of the season and was at least the most interesting Red Sox team since the 2018 World Series champs. Jarren Duran had a monster breakout season with power (only Ohtani, Judge and Witt will end up with more extra-base hits), speed and defense. Rookies David Hamilton, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu all had 2-WAR seasons. The Red Sox scored enough runs even with injuries to Triston Casas and Trevor Story. The rotation was on fire in April, but mediocre the rest of the way — that and the bullpen will be addressed for next season.

Maybe the best news came from the farm system: Baseball America just named Roman Anthony its new No. 1 overall prospect; Kristian Campbell may have had the best statistical season of any minor leaguer, hitting .330/.439/.558 in jumping from High-A to Triple-A; and Marcelo Mayer and Kyle Teel both played well. All four could be ready to join the Red Sox in 2025.

The best way to sum up Seattle’s season: maybe the most depressing of all 30 teams (OK, nothing was more depressing than the White Sox), although the Mariners have managed to enter the final week with a chance at a wild-card spot (unfortunately, they lose tiebreakers to the Tigers, Twins and Royals). They had the best rotation in the majors via ERA and innings pitched, which should make any team a playoff lock. They also had a 10-game division lead on June 18 — which they promptly blew in 24 games, the fastest a team has ever lost a lead that big. Mariners fans watched Julio Rodriguez struggle most of the season as other young stars soared past him. Seattle led the majors in strikeouts, even though the goal last offseason had been to cut down on strikeouts. So, barring a last-second miracle, it likely ends up a familiar result for the Mariners, falling just short of the postseason, like they did in 2023 (one win short), 2021 (two wins), 2016 (three wins) and 2014 (one win).

The Cardinals were who we thought they were: a .500-ish team. Before the season, it seemed clear they needed bounce-back seasons from Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado to boost the offense. That didn’t happen, and the Cardinals will finish middle of the pack in the NL in runs. They got mostly what you would have expected from free agent starters Sonny Gray, Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn — some durability for a rotation that needed it — but it wasn’t enough. If anything, the Cardinals overachieved just to finish around .500 given they’ve been outscored by 50-plus runs. Masyn Winn had a promising rookie season, but Nolan Gorman was so bad the Cardinals finally sent him down to Triple-A and Jordan Walker was even worse. The future here looks more than a little murky.

We’ve learned to expect good things from the Rays, even when we don’t expect much, so this season qualifies as a mild disappointment even knowing they began the season with a star-studded rotation all on the IL (Shane McClanahan, Jeffrey Springs, Drew Rasmussen, Shane Baz). But there was also regression from the likes of Josh Lowe and Yandy Diaz, failure to ignite for some other young hitters (Curtis Mead and Jonny DeLuca) and a lack of production at catcher and center field. The offense ended up as one of the worst in the majors.

The front office threw in the towel at the trade deadline, dealing away Randy Arozarena, Isaac Paredes, Zach Eflin and Jason Adam in a series of well-received trades that brought more young talent into the organization. Down on the farm, shortstop Carson Williams and first baseman Xavier Isaac emerged as two of the top prospects in the minors. The Rays were down in 2024, but they’re hardly out. The rotation should be healthier and better in 2025, but they’ll need to figure out how to improve the lineup.

Quick question: Who’s the best player on the Cubs? Cody Bellinger? Shota Imanaga? Dansby Swanson? Justin Steele? Seiya Suzuki? By WAR for the 2024 season, it’s Ian Happ. The Cubs have a group of good, solid players. What they need is a star. Or two. With Swanson, Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong, they have three superior defenders up the middle — and while that’s a good thing to have, none of the three are middle-of-the-order hitters. What they need is a big bat. Will they throw a big bundle of cash at Juan Soto to lure him to Wrigley?

For the second straight season, the Cubs also underperformed their Pythagorean record: seven wins last season, about six wins this season. Switching from David Ross to Craig Counsell at manager didn’t improve the performance in that regard. It could be nothing other than a two-year statistical fluke, a “that’s baseball” kind of thing, but the front office will certainly need to figure out why it happened again. Was the bullpen to blame? At least Porter Hodge, with what has been one of the most unhittable sweepers in the game, looks like the closer of the future.

The Reds thought they were ready. A franchise that rarely digs into free agency, they finally spent some money in the offseason to add depth — Jeimer Candelario, Frankie Montas, Nick Martinez, Emilio Pagan and Buck Farmer. Not big money, for sure, but secondary pieces to add to what they thought was a nice young core. That core just wasn’t good enough, even as Elly De La Cruz improved and Hunter Greene emerged as a Cy Young contender (until he went down with a sore elbow in August). A season-long injury to Matt McLain didn’t help.

In 2023, Cincinnati finished over .500 despite getting outscored, so maybe it just overestimated the talent on hand. The team is not good defensively and doesn’t hit enough home runs considering its home park. For 2025, the Reds can dream of a full season from Rhett Lowder in the rotation and maybe even this year’s No. 2 pick Chase Burns making it up at some point to join Greene and Lowder as a power trio. They’ll need De La Cruz to turn some of those 200-plus strikeouts into home runs and more offense from … somebody.

Giants fans may suggest this grade is actually a little generous — and I wouldn’t disagree too much. After going 81-81 in 2022 and 79-83 in 2023, the Giants resorted to the easiest and most direct path to trying to improve: spend money! They signed free agents Blake Snell, Matt Chapman, Jorge Soler, Jordan Hicks, Tom Murphy and Jung Hoo Lee, plus made a splashy trade for Robbie Ray (who was coming off Tommy John surgery). Chapman was great and eventually signed a six-year, $150 million extension, but the other six have combined for less than 4 WAR — and Soler ended up getting traded to the Braves. Snell signed late, was terrible early on, and while he’s been unhittable in the second half, his overall season wasn’t a $32 million season. Lee wasn’t impressive early on (86 OPS+) and then tore his labrum after 37 games; his salary jumps from $7.8 million this season to $16.8 million next season and then $22.8 million after that. The team’s best hitter ended up being unheralded 26-year-old rookie Tyler Fitzgerald.

In mid-September, the Giants were shut out three games in a row — the first time that had happened since 1992. Manager Bob Melvin called 2024 “probably the hardest season” he’s had as a manager, and speculation began that he could be ousted after one season. Snell will likely opt out and head back into free agency. Closer Camilo Doval was sent down to Triple-A for a spell. Kyle Harrison ended the season on the IL with shoulder inflammation. It was not a good year for the Giants.

Unlike the Giants, the Blue Jays were coming off consecutive postseason appearances and expecting to make it a third — although only seven of our 26 experts picked them to make it. Their offseason plan seemed to be “sign Shohei Ohtani,” and when that infamously didn’t happen — nope, he wasn’t on the plane — they didn’t really have a Plan B. Maybe they needed one, because Toronto just never got going, was never particularly interesting, and even when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went on a monster heater in the second half, it was nowhere near enough. The bullpen was a mess, Bo Bichette had a lost season with injuries and poor production, and some of the other core players are getting old. The Jays have one more year with Guerrero and Bichette; the front office is going to have to figure out some serious reconfiguring of this roster.

I considered giving them an F as defending World Series champions who will finish under .500 — certainly a disappointing defense of their title — but they weren’t quite bad enough to earn that grade. The Rangers were in first place in mid-May, but then things quickly fell apart. By June 18, they were 10 games out of first and never really got back into it. They thought they had enough pitching depth to cover things until Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle returned, but they didn’t — and they didn’t end up getting many innings from those three anyway.

The bigger letdown, however, was an offense that collapsed from best in the AL to 10th in runs scored; Texas will end up scoring about 200 fewer runs than in 2023. Adolis Garcia and Marcus Semien created about 80 fewer runs between the two of them, but there were declines across the board. Meanwhile, Evan Carter and Josh Jung missed the majority of the season with injuries and rookie Wyatt Langford didn’t quite ignite as expected (although improved in the second half). The Rangers will have some interesting choices this offseason: Scherzer and closer Kirby Yates are free agents and Nathan Eovaldi has a player option he may turn down. Will they count on the offense bouncing back or make some changes?

I feel like I can cut and paste this every year: “Not much was expected of the Rockies, and they pretty much met those expectations.” It looks like they’ll finish with the worst OPS in franchise history and they’ll have their third straight season with an ERA over 5.00. They had a 7-22 record by the end of April that had them out of it just a month into the season. The two bright spots were shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, who has more than 70 extra-base hits (although a sub-.300 OBP that he needs to improve) and center fielder Brenton Doyle, who went from arguably the worst-hitting regular in the majors as a rookie in 2023 to a league-average hitter (while likely headed to another Gold Glove). But that’s nowhere near enough. The farm system remains weak, they gave a lot of at-bats to players who simply weren’t ready for the majors, the bullpen was bad and their immediate future remains dreary.

I’d like to cut them some slack given that they ended the season with an entire rotation of good pitchers on the IL, something few — if any — organizations would have been able to overcome. But this was still an ugly mess. The Marlins used more players than any team in MLB history as they shuffled through one random waiver claim or call-up after another. Despite last year’s playoff appearance, new GM Peter Bendix didn’t inherit a deep organization and those issues manifested themselves throughout the season. How bad were things? Reliever Tanner Scott leads the team with six wins — and he’s a relief pitcher who was traded away at the trade deadline. If that holds, the Marlins will become the first team without a pitcher to win at least seven games (even the White Sox had one this season).

The Angels are the only active franchise to have never lost 100 games, and while they’ll manage to avoid that again, they do have a shot at the worst season in franchise history (the 1980 team went 65-95 for a .406 winning percentage). Beginning with the failure to re-sign Ohtani to Mike Trout’s season-ending injury after 29 games to Anthony Rendon playing just 57 games and not hitting a home run, it’s been the usual string of mishaps and mediocrity. Just last week, they were batting Brandon Drury cleanup — even though he had a .167 average and sub-.500 OPS in 300 at-bats. This is now nine straight losing seasons.

Well, yeah, you knew this was coming.

Not much was expected of the White Sox, of course. Even their own executives didn’t expect much and even anticipated a 100-loss season. But this? The most losses in modern baseball history? More losses than the 1962 Mets? (They might still be at 120, but they’ll get there.) It was ugly, it was embarrassing and it was grisly, with separate losing streaks of 12, 14 and 21 games. They went from June 30 to Sept. 14 without winning two games in a row. There’s no rose you can pin on this season — OK, other than Garrett Crochet’s surprising breakout as a starter. Of course, now we’ll see if he gets traded in the offseason.