After a last wild day, the MLB 2025 trade deadline is in books.
The Padres of San Diego and Houston made surprising movements that rocked the deadline. The Seattle Mariners went big in their quest for the first trip of the World Series in the history of the franchise. And the twins of Minnesota, well, let us rush to see who remains on their list.
What clubs have made the right calls? What should we believe (or not to believe) in the rest of the baseball season? Now that the dust has been installed from the 2025 commercial deadline, we have asked our ESPN MLB experts to debate what is real – and what is not – to move forward.
Real or not: the two teams to beat in the American league reside in the Al West after the Astros and the Navy made big movements
Bradford Dolittle: Not real. There is no team to beat in the American League. The Royals, the Rangers and even the Rays – and it’s just the R – can all win this League. It is not because they are all sleepy giants. There is simply not much separation in this circuit.
In fact, I do not believe that the astros are better, and I already thought that they were clinging to their usual leading status with their proverbial nails. I like what the navies have done, and this programming is much more dangerous with the old heart of the order of Arizona. And I love Matt Bash, just to throw a random hyperbole. I could put the navies in first place from here, but I still do not see any real separation.
David Schoenfield: Not real. I always think you can take the six or seven best AL teams and classify them in any order and not have many arguments.
Yes, the astros added the offensive to Carlos Correa and Jesus Sanchez, but Correa is not close to the player he was at his peak, and the astros did not address their rotation. The navies have certainly improved with Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor, but their rotation was not as good as last season, and the only lifter they added was Caleb Ferguson – barely an impact movement. The Al remains wide, large open. Which will make these last two months super exciting.
Real or not: the two teams to beat in the National League are in the NL East after the phillies and the food were loaded on the deadline
Jorge Castillo: Not real. The two clubs have done so on the deadline and emerged greater threats for October, but the National League remains a waste of contenders. In the West, AJ Preller has once again become AJ PRELLER, Aggressively maneuvering to improve the chances of the paadres, while the dodgers are always the dodgers, and their starting rotation becomes healthy. In the center, brewers are a finely adjusted machine, and the cubs can strike with the best of them. Not much separate these six teams. This should make a fascinating October.
Schoenfield: Not real. I love what the two teams have done on the deadline, addressing the holes in their arenas. But, uh, the Dodgers finally start to be healthy (Blake Snell will start on Saturday, for beginners) and Brewers could always be the best team in the league, even if they added that Shelby Miller, and the Cubs may still have the best offense of the majors.
I particularly liked what the Padres did, obtaining Mason Miller, Ryan O’Hearn, Ramon Laureano and Freddy Fermin, plugging in all their holes while adding another dominant lift to what was already a dominant enclosure. Just like in the AL, I think you could now classify these teams in almost all orders. October is going to be a wild ride.
Real or not: Padres are now a legitimate threat to dethrone the dodgers in the NL West after their last deadline
Alden Gonzalez: Real. GOOD. The Padres did not sit on only three games back in the deadline on the heels of a sequence of five consecutive victories. Then, they lengthened a very heavy programming, acquired a fairly decent upgrade at Catcher and, in particular, gave themselves the deepest and fiercest in sport.
The dodgers are quite comfortable with whom they are at the moment – first, with several key players who come back, while feeling quite confident that their best baseball could always be in front of them. But it is undeniable that the paadres are a legitimate threat. Again.
Jesse Rogers: Real. They improved where they needed, especially in the capture position and at the bottom of their order. And their enclosure of the lifts is clearly better than that of it at the moment. The paadres dragged near the NL summit all season, but were considered a good team, not an excellent. They have a chance to be better now than they have eliminated the holes in their range. And whatever the deficit they have in their rotation, this enclosure of the readers will compensate.
Real or not: the Yankees helped their chances for a return of the World Series on the deadline – and the Dodgers did not
Castillo: Real. The Yankees have approached the deadline to improve three areas: the starting rotation, the enclosure of the readers and the inner field. In the end, they checked two of the three boxes well enough to consider them as real candidates going without abandoning any of their first first prospects in the organizational ranking of Kiley McDaniel.
Although the Yankees have chosen not to pay the trade price for an impact starter, they revised their retreating enclosure with high octane closings (David Bednar and Camilo Doval) and a third right-hander (Jake Bird) which lacks bats at an above average rate. As for position players, New York has improved its construction of clumsy alignment with four additions which should provide Manager Aaron Boone with greater programming flexibility and better choices to navigate the games. Aaron Judge’s elbow injury – and if it will come back to play the outdoor field this season – is still looming, but the Yankees are a better team than they were a week ago when the director general Brian Cashman started to treat.
Gonzalez: Not real. The Yankees have certainly helped their chances by giving themselves a deeper enclosure and more options against the opposing left -handers. But the dodgers also helped their chances. Brock Stewart is a Snecky-Dominant lift, especially against right-handed strikers. Alex Call, although he is not sexy, is a good adjustment as a right -handed striker who works with good bats and offers a solid defense. The problem is that the dodgers wanted to do even better. They were on Steven Kwan. They were on Griffin Jax. But in the end, they were not willing to respond to commercial demands considered by many to be exorbitant.
Real or not: cubs and tigers are always teams to fear in October despite their less aggressive deadline approaches
Rogers: Not real. The two teams worked to help them go to the playoffs, but not necessarily by winning them. This is where the trade for these best closers or men would have brought into play. The regular season is to start pitching. October concerns enclosures.
Detroit recognized the need but chose the quantity rather than the quality (although Kyle Finnegan should help). None of the two teams did enough compared to his rivals. This does not mean that these teams will not win in October. But their deadlines were right.
DOOLITTLE: Real, because being a feared team is not equivalent to being the clear favorite. I am nevertheless disappointed. The two teams have already positioned themselves for a strong seed, although the cubs must repel the brewers. None of the two teams only made the kind of splash an all-in team would do.
Detroit has certainly helped his rotation and will not end up counting as many matters of the enclosure of the lifts as last season. (Again, this approach worked.) I would have liked to see the tigers do much more for the enclosure of the lifts, and I am not tall on Rafael Montero or Finnegan.
The deadline for cubs was a yawn. Willi Castro is a nice public service player, but I prefer to drive with Matt Shaw and his potential to break out at any time at the third goal. And the prospects for pitching staff are unchanged before the deadline, and yes, I realize that the Cubs have added some people to the list. But they were good before the deadline and stay it now.
Real or not: twins made their future brighter with their demolition of the delay of commerce
DOOLITTLE: Not real. My mother, tragically a fan of the inveterate Royals, sent me a text in the middle of madness asking if the twins were going to exchange everyone in their team. They almost did it! But I don’t know – it looks like a case of displacement of things and not necessarily ending up in a better place. The long -term pay prospects are a little better, but this team has become a little dull, and the enclosure of the lifts – a force – is a ball of what it was. I would like more than the collection of Taj Bradley, but an agreement like this with the Rays is perilous. Inches paid for me.
Gonzalez: Not real, because so much their movements clearly aimed at reducing the costs of a transition deductible. For me, the Twins exchanging 10 players from the major league were an indication that this list was actually quite good – and perhaps worthy of a chance to dispute again in the central AL perpetually opened next year.
There were beautiful objects here (Bradley for Griffin Jax, James Outman for Brock Stewart, Eduardo Tait and Mick Abel for Jhoan Duran). But in the end, the twins separated from key control players, no more notable than Carlos Correa, who went to the astros in what was equivalent to a salary dump. It was a bad day for fans of twins. Painting it differently would be a bad service.
