After six long months, we've made it to the finish line — the final day of the 2026 regular season. And it's safe to say that certain teams (and certain fan bases) are far happier to see it end than others.
This season brought us as many twists, turns and surprises as any in recent memory. Some of those surprises were pleasant; the Tampa Bay Rays shocked everybody by being the best team in the AL more or less wire to wire, while the Chicago White Sox went from 100 losses to a playoff spot. Others, however ... well, let's just say that very few people had the New York Mets and Seattle Mariners missing the postseason back in the spring.
As we get set to turn our attention to October, how should you be feeling about how the year went for your team? We're here to hand out 30 grades for 30 clubs, based on preseason expectations, on-paper talent and overall vibes.
Arizona Diamondbacks: B-
Arizona's playoff push fell just short on the season's final day, but they sure did make it interesting — and in the process may have found something to build upon for 2027. Zero postseason appearances since the World Series run in 2023 is surely disappointing, and the pitching staff needs a more or less total rebuild. But Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo, Gabriel Moreno, Lars Nootbaar, Jordan Lawlar and Ryan Waldschmidt give the Snakes an exciting foundation of position players, assuming better health next time around.
–Zach Rotman, FanSided.com staff writer
Athletics: D
It's hard to remember now, but this season began with real promise for the A's, who were much better than anticipated last season and were hovering around .500 as recently as late June. And then seemingly the whole team got hurt, and the ones who didn't failed to take the step forward that many anticipated. Oh, and the pitching staff is still starting from square one. There's still plenty to believe in here with Shea Langeliers, Nick Kurtz, Tyler Soderstrom and Brent Rooker anchoring the lineup, and Lawrence Butler and Henry Bolte showed signs late. But it's hard not to view this as anything but a lost season, with ownership uncertainty to boot.
–Chris Landers, FanSided.com editor
Atlanta Braves: A-
On one hand, the Braves feel hard to trust, with an inconsistent lineup and a rotation lacking reliability behind Chris Sale, yet they still won the NL East without much issue — and after how poorly 2025 went, that’s a big deal. I don’t know if I trust Atlanta to go on a long run, and that’s a shame because that should be the goal, but getting this far despite all of the adversity they’ve dealt with this season feels like a big win.
–ZR
Baltimore Orioles: C-
Perhaps this is too harsh for a team that wasn't eliminated from Wild Card contention until the final week of the regular season and finished just barely under .500. But is that really the bar this late into the Mike Elias era, especially after handing Pete Alonso $155 million? Another year without a playoff appearance is a failure, point blank, and more damning still is the fact that pretty much none of Baltimore's homegrown talent took a step forward. At a certain point, middling becomes something much worse.
–CL
Boston Red Sox: B
No single grade can encapsulate the roller coaster that was the 2026 Red Sox, from playing so badly it cost Alex Cora his job to becoming the best team in baseball for multiple months to stumbling toward the finish line. Add it all up, and you get something just fine, if not overwhelmingly positive. Boston is headed back to the postseason, with plenty of chance to make noise in the wide-open AL. But there are real concerns about this offense, even if Craig Breslow clearly knows how to develop a pitching staff.
–CL
Chicago Cubs: B
The Chicago Cubs made it to the postseason for a second straight year,watched Pete Crow-Armstrong put together a (likely) MVP season, and got their money’s worth in the first year of Alex Bregman’s contract after a brutal start, which are all great things. However, the bar should really be higher for a Cubs team that leads the Majors in runs scored and added Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes and Ryan Zeferjahn at the deadline. Yet I have doubts they can reach said bar; they have the offense and the defense to go on a run, but can the pitching hold up its end of the bargain?
–ZR
Chicago White Sox: A
No, they didn't hold on to their lead in the AL Central. And no, I don't have a ton of faith in their ability to win one — let alone multiple — playoff series this year given the sketchiness of their pitching situation. But come on: This team lost 100-plus games last year! Nothing was expected of the South Siders in 2026, and here they are heading to October anyway. That's a huge feather in the caps of Chris Getz and Will Venable, and the best should still be yet to come.
–CL
Cincinnati Reds: D-
The Reds made the playoffs in 2025 and were 20-11 at the end of April, but they went into the tank the rest of the way, resulting in a last-place finish in the NL Central. The Reds got a career year from Elly De La Cruz and a likely Rookie of the Year season out of Sal Stewart, yet they still finished near the bottom of the league in runs scored and saw regression across the board in their rotation (outside of Chase Burns). The performance of franchise cornerstones like De La Cruz, Stewart and Burns was good enough to keep their grade from being an F, but given their initial expectations, this was a disastrous season.
–ZR
Cleveland Guardians: B
Death, taxes and the Cleveland Guardians somehow finding themselves atop the AL Central when all is said and done. It's hard to ding a team too much after winning their division and nabbing a first-round bye into the ALDS, so maybe a B is unduly harsh. At the same time ... well, is there any indication this Guards Ball run will end any differently than all the others? Cleveland still benefits from a weak division, and they still don't seem to have enough firepower to truly make noise against the best teams in baseball, so we'll leave them at "good not great" for now.
Colorado Rockies: C+
A C+ grade for a fourth straight 100-loss might seem insane, but the Colorado Rockies also won 15 more games this season than in 2025, showing that they might very well be on the right path after all. Hunter Goodman and Jake McCarthy had monster years, and guys like TJ Rumfield, Kyle Karros and even Adael Amador look like real building blocks. The problem is that the pitching is still non-existent beyond Chase Dollander (who underwent elbow surgery), and there isn’t much in the pipeline in that area. They have work to do before they’re close to being competitive, but quantifiable improvement is a great thing.
–ZR
Detroit Tigers: D-
Given how much was at stake for the Tigers in Tarik Skubal's final season before free agency, this grade was always going to be boom or bust. And, well, you can probably guess which way that broke: Skubal is now in Los Angeles, while Detroit is left to pick up the pieces after missing the postseason entirely. To be clear, the arrow is still pointed up here long term; Kevin McGonigle is already a borderline MVP candidate, young pitching abounds and Scott Harris, for whatever else you'd like to say about him, still knows how to identify and develop players internally. But for a year with these sorts of World Series or bust expectations to end in late September is a massive disappointment.
–CL
Houston Astros: B-
On the one hand, the Houston Astros were not "good" in any objective sense; they made MLB history by winning their division without the benefit of a winning record, after all. And yet, they're division winners all the same, punching their ticket to October after taking care of business against the A's on Sunday. And hey, Yordan Alvarez is a god, and the postseason path looks awfully favorable. We have lots of long-term questions about this organization amid ongoing front-office turmoil and stagnating player development, but anything can happen once you get into the dance.
–CL
Kansas City Royals: D
The Royals were hoping to take a step forward this year after a disappointing 2025 campaign. Instead, they took a huge step back, with an offense still searching for answers around Bobby Witt Jr. and a pitching staff that did not live up to expectation. Jac Caglianone, Carter Jensen and Vinnie Pasquantino still look like building blocks, but having a player as great as Witt Jr. in his prime means your contention window is right now, and Kansas City looks further away from that than ever.
–CL
Los Angeles Angels: B
Did the Angels deserve a B on the field? Of course not; this was, in terms of wins and losses, probably the worst season in franchise history. And yet, the 2026 campaign also brought an end to Arte Moreno's reign of terror, and for that reason alone, it has to be viewed as an unqualified success. This franchise was simply never going to find success with Moreno at the helm, and finally, at long last, fans in Anaheim were able to bully him into a sale. If Stan Kroenke just stays out of the way and writes checks the way he has with the Rams and others, that's an exponential improvement that could finally create some hope for the future.
–CL
Los Angeles Dodgers: B+
The Dodgers might be the toughest team in the league to grade. On one hand, they won their 13th NL West title in 14 years and earned a first-round bye, giving them a golden opportunity to win another World Series. On the other hand, there are concerns in many areas: Can their lineup, led mainly by players who underperformed this season, step it up in October? Can the rotation survive not having Shohei Ohtani to turn to? Can Edwin Diaz wipe away a catastrophically awful regular season and put together an October to remember? The Dodgers are probably the favorites to win it all once again, but the fact that I had to say probably and not definitely has to bump their grade down a bit given their ridiculously lofty expectations.
–ZR
Miami Marlins: B-
There’s a lot to like about the Marlins. Their rotation, led by Sandy Alcantara and Eury Perez, is in good shape, especially if they can get prospects Thomas White and Robby Snelling back (and assuming Alcantara isn’t traded). Their middle infield of Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards is underratedly one of the best in the Majors. The Marlins even have some power thanks to guys like Heriberto Hernandez and Kyle Stowers; if they could add one big bat and a reliever or two, I’d consider them legitimate Wild Card contenders for 2027.
Unfortunately, I have little faith in ownership spending, and that brings back the painful reminder that the Marlins traded Liam Hicks, one of their best players, for pennies on the dollars at the deadline. They have hope, but they need to do things I don’t believe they’ll do to get better, and that’s why the grade might seem a bit harsh.
–ZR
Milwaukee Brewers: A
The Brewers were embarrassed in last year’s NLCS and seemingly got worse on paper after trading Freddy Peralta away in the offseason, only for them to win 100 games for the first time in franchise history and earn the No. 1 seed in the National League. It’s fair to doubt them in October given the uncertainty behind Jacob Misiorowski in their rotation and a lineup that lacks power, but another year of the Brewers finishing as the best regular-season team in the sport when nobody believed in them to be that good deserves praise.
–ZR
Minnesota Twins: C+
The Twins fell short of the playoffs after a confusing deadline in which they bought in just about the most uninspiring way imaginable. And yet, it's not hard to find silver linings here. After all, being in contention at all was more than was expected of this team back in the spring. And top prospects like Connor Prielipp, Kaelen Culpepper, Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez arrived en masse, while Brooks Lee blossomed into a perfectly respectable starting shortstop. Those are all real wins that bode well for the future, even if lots of questions remain regarding ownership investment.
–CL
New York Mets: F
Things have gotten better for the Mets down the stretch, as young stars such as Nolan McLean, Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing (among others) have begun to emerge around the existing dynamic duo of Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor. But this team followed its historic 2025 collapse by losing 12 straight in April and never really recovering. Virtually every offseason move, from letting Pete Alonso go, to signing Bo Bichette, to trading for Marcus Semien, backfired spectacularly and played a huge role in the team’s demise. There isn’t a fan base more fed up with its executive than Mets fans are with David Stearns, and most of their frustration is justified. The core is there for this team to be competitive as soon as 2027, but Stearns must find solutions on the margins, which is where he failed spectacularly this season.
–ZR
New York Yankees: B
Yankees fans probably won't be happy with this, but — and I say this with all the love in the world as a Yankees fan myself — when are Yankees fans ever happy? New York didn't win the AL East and will have a tough road to hoe in October, they had the best run differential in the American League this year despite just about every significant player missing at least some time due to injury. The goal in the Bronx is always winning it all, but this team could still absolutely accomplish that goal given how great their pitching is, and they deserve some credit for staying the course.
–CL
Philadelphia Phillies: B-
The Phillies deserve credit for storming back under Don Mattingly after a 9-19 start with Rob Thomson and making the playoffs, but shouldn’t expectations be higher than narrowly squeaking into the dance — especially since we don’t know how many more years this core has left? Their starting rotation should allow them to be competitive in October, but their lineup is top-heavy (and looks even worse with Luis Arraez injured), their bullpen is a mess beyond Jhoan Duran and Jesus Luzardo’s injury makes the rotation not as scary as it should be. It’s hard to take this team seriously as true contenders, and when expectations are World Series or bust, that results in the Phillies getting a mediocre grade overall.
–ZR
Pittsburgh Pirates: C+
The Pirates did many things right in 2026. They finished with a winning record for the first time since 2018, ranked sixth in the Majors in runs scored, watched Jared Jones and Braxton Ashcraft flash glimpses of brilliance in the rotation and might’ve found their new closer in Mason Montgomery. With that being said, Paul Skenes had the worst year of his career by far, Mitch Keller collapsed after a strong start and ended the year on the IL and the bullpen was a disaster for most of the year. Worst of all, Pittsburgh missed out on the playoffs once again, and who knows if Brandon Lowe, their leading home run hitter, will even be back next season?
–ZR
San Diego Padres: B+
The Padres went from a team that couldn’t hit and looked poised to miss the playoffs to one that enters October playing as well as any team in the National League of late. Suddenly, Fernando Tatis Jr. is playing at an MVP level, and guys like Jackson Merrill and Ty France have been awesome alongside him. Pitching-wise, the bullpen, led by Mason Miller, remains great, and the rotation, thanks to Nick Pivetta’s return from the IL and the Robbie Ray and Casey Mize additions, is in as good a shape as it's been all year. They face a tough road as a Wild Card team, but they might be the NL’s best hope of dethroning the Dodgers.
–ZR
San Francisco Giants: F
Some projections had the Giants making the playoffs this season, yet their biggest accomplishment of the campaign might be (barely) avoiding the 100-loss mark. That’s how bad things were this year. The Giants got down years from the likes of Willy Adames, Matt Chapman and even Logan Webb, injuries ravaged them and, while Rafael Devers turned his season around down the stretch, his brutal start played a role in the Giants playing themselves out of contention very early on. What feels worse is that without much young talent beyond Bryce Eldridge, a ton of bad money on their books and a manager whom I still don’t know is any good in Tony Vitello, the Giants might not be much better in 2027.
–ZR
Seattle Mariners: F
I mean, what else could it possibly be? The Mariners came within one game of making their first World Series last fall; this year, they were out of playoff contention before September. Just about everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, and it's going to cost manager Dan Wilson his job. The offense was a mess that now has to face Randy Arozarena hitting free agency, while even the starting pitching backslid a bit. That rotation still provides a foundation upon which to build moving forward, and it wouldn't be a shock to see Seattle right back in the playoffs next year, but 2026 was a total wash.
–CL
St. Louis Cardinals: A-
Sure, the Cardinals might’ve sold at the deadline and fizzled down the stretch, but did anyone really expect a high-70s win total, especially after they traded Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan away in one winter? This was supposed to be a brutal reset, yet the Cardinals won more games than expected, and that was largely due to guys who will likely be in town for a while like JJ Wetherholt, Jordan Walker and Alec Burleson. Now, the Cardinals have a young core that’s easy to buy into, a strong farm system that only improved at the deadline and money to spend. If they do spend it, contention for a Wild Card berth could be in the cards as soon as next year.
–ZR
Tampa Bay Rays: A+
When you go from a projected fifth-place finish in your division to the best record in the entire American League, it's safe to say you aced the test. Whether Tampa is built for October remains to be seen, but this team was a regular-season wagon, a pitching development factory that got an MVP-caliber season from Junior Caminero and enough contributions from everybody else to make the whole thing work. One of the best-run organizations in baseball just keeps on keeping on.
–CL
Texas Rangers: C
Admittedly this would've been bumped up to a C+ or even a B- if they'd managed to win the AL West slapfight with the Astros. But Texas was an inescapably mediocre team this season, and so it feels appropriate that their season ended not with a playoff bid but with a whimper. Injuries didn't help, but a team this expensive and this experienced shouldn't be this middling in just about every facet (worse in the bullpen's case), and it's not clear how things get better from here unless top prospect Sebastian Walcott is ready to be a superstar in year one.
–CL
Toronto Blue Jays: D
In some ways a D feels harsh, given all the injury-related adversity Toronto had to deal with this year. Then again, this offense was a tremendous disappointment no matter how many qualifiers you want to apply, starting with $500 million man Vladimir Guerrero Jr. And expectations could not have been higher after coming within an eyelash of a championship last fall and signing Dylan Cease over the offseason. Like with Seattle, the Jays could very well be back in the postseason 12 months from now, but this was a huge letdown however you slice it.
–CL
Washington Nationals: B+
It was frustrating to see the Nationals sell at the deadline and immediately collapse in the standings, but they might’ve won 20 more games than most expected them to — that’s a huge win. Their lineup, anchored by James Wood and CJ Abrams, was leading the Majors in runs scored for much of the year. Their rotation, thanks to recently extended Cade Cavalli, Andrew Alvarez’s emergence and the Connelly Early trade, has some legitimate building blocks. Had the bullpen not been historically bad, the Nationals might’ve made the playoffs this season, which would’ve been even more surprising than the White Sox doing so. Paul Toboni still has work to do when it comes to rebuilding the pitching staff primarily, but with an improving foundation and a strong farm system, Nationals fans should be as excited for what’s to come as they’ve been since winning the World Series in 2019.
–ZR
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